Description
Book SynopsisA TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020
''Lovers of word games and literary puzzles will relish this indispensable anthology'' The Guardian
''At times, you simply have to stand back in amazement'' Daily Telegraph
''An exhilarating feat, it takes its place as the definitive anthology in English for decades to come'' Marina Warner
Brought together for the first time, here are 100 pieces of ''Oulipo'' writing, celebrating the literary group who revelled in maths problems, puzzles, trickery, wordplay and conundrums.
Featuring writers including Georges Perec, Raymond Queneau and Italo Calvino, it includes poems, short stories, word games and even recipes. Alongside these famous Oulipians, are ''anticipatory'' wordsmiths who crafted language with unusual constraints and literary tricks, from Jonathan Swift to Lewis Carroll.
Philip Terry''s playful selection will appeal to lovers of word g
Trade Review
A superb selection ... Lovers of word games and literary puzzles will relish this indispensable anthology celebrating Perec, Calvino and many others ... Terry's anthology connects us to a wider world of Oulipian wordplay, and beyond. -- Tony White * The Guardian *
There is real gold in Terry's selection ... the perfect illustration of the Oulipian balancing act of producing writing that is both wry and moving at the same time. -- Dennis Duncan * Literary Review *
At times, you simply have to stand back in amazement ... Philip Terry - himself a fine formalist poet and a distinguished translator of Oulipo - has put together as good a tasting menu as any. The 100 examples of Oulipian and relatedly formalist work here maintain an almost uniform virtuosic ingenuity, and reward reading, even en masse. -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph *
Magnificent ... Terry's introduction pays witty homage to Oulipians' obsession with order, for it offers an A-Z guide to the movement's major writers and formulae. -- Mark Ford * Times Literary Supplement *
Philip Terry's collection is packed with fabulous, wide-ranging work thatdisplays the full ingenuity, brio and originality of Oulipian ideals in action. An exhilarating feat of in-depth reading, and translating, it takes its place as the definitive anthology in English for decades to come. -- Marina Warner
Philip Terry's rich anthology of Oulipo writings from Rabelais to Perec [is] a salutary reminder that laughter and linguistic dexterity are as much part of what it means to be human as violence and greed. -- Gabriel Josipovici * Times Literary Supplement *
A wonderful anthology. -- Michèle Métail
Indispensible, informative and playful ... no two pages are alike, and every page is quite unlike anything else you've ever read. -- Andy Brown * Stride Magazine *
