Ben Orlin at Math With Bad Drawings:
“Oulipans are rats who build the labyrinth from which they will try to escape.” –Raymond Queneau
It brings me no joy to report the rebirth (or the renewed undeadness) of the zombie literary movement known as OuLiPo.
Oulipo’s first birth came in 1960, from the vibrant and idle minds of Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. They dubbed it ouvroir de littérature potentielle (“workshop of potential literature”). A self-conscious experiment in applying strict mathematical constraints to art, its results (such as George Perec’s La Disparition, a novel that avoids the letter e) were spectacles of virtuosity, triumphs of ingenuity, and, at their very best, passable works of art. No coincidence, I say, that the name “potential literature” stands opposed to actual literature.
I believed this volcano had gone dormant. I was wrong. The last year witnessed four eruptions. I offer brief comments on each species of ash.
More here.
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