{"product_id":"the-oulipo-and-modern-thought-dennis-duncan-9780198831631","title":"The Oulipo and Modern Thought","description":"The impact of the Oulipo (Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle), one of the most important groups of experimental writers of the late twentieth century, is still being felt in contemporary literature, criticism, and theory, both in Europe and the US. Founded in 1960 and still active today, this Parisian literary workshop has featured among its members such notable writers as Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, and Raymond Queneau, all sharing in its light-hearted, slightly boozy \u003cem\u003ebonhomie\u003c\/em\u003e, the convivial antithesis of the fractious, volatile coteries of the early twentieth-century avant-garde. For the last fifty years the Oulipo has undertaken the same simple goal: to investigate the potential of 'constraints' in the production of literature--that is, formal procedures such as anagrams, acrostics, lipograms (texts which exclude a certain letter), and other strange and complex devices. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYet, far from being mere parlour games, these methods have been frequently used as part of a passionate--though sometimes satirical--involvement with the major intellectual currents of the mid-twentieth century. Structuralism, psychoanalysis, Surrealism, analytic philosophy: all come under discussion in the group's meetings, and all find their way in the group's exercises in ways that, while often ironic, are also highly informed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUsing meeting minutes, correspondence, and other material from the Oulipo archive at the Bibliotheque nationale de France, \u003cem\u003eThe Oulipo and Modern Thought\u003c\/em\u003e shows how the group have used constrained writing as means of puckish engagement with the debates of their peers, and how, as the broader intellectual landscape altered, so too would the group's conception of what constrained writing can achieve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Dennis Duncan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0198831633\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780198831631\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/04\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 186\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.60h x 5.70w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2021","brand":"Dennis Duncan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43946300408063,"sku":"9780198831631","price":89.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_10fdfac0-bc5f-4143-b344-51dddadbc75b.jpg?v=1681512428","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-oulipo-and-modern-thought-dennis-duncan-9780198831631","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}