{"product_id":"the-politics-of-play-aubrey-gabel-9780810149281","title":"The Politics of Play: Oulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics","description":"\u003cb\u003eShowing the political importance of play in postwar French literature\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In postwar France, authors approached writing ludically, placing rules and conditions on language and on the context of composition itself. They eliminated \"e's\" and feminized texts; they traveled according to strict rules and invented outright silly public personas. \u003ci\u003eThe Politics of Play: Oulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics \u003c\/i\u003eis a comprehensive examination of how and why French authors turned to these ludic methods to grapple with their political moment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e These writers were responding to a range of historical upheavals, from the rise and fall of French feminist and Third-Worldist groups to the aftermath of international socialism both at home, in the former Parisian Belt and in France more broadly, and abroad, in post-Yugoslavia Balkan states and elsewhere. Juxtaposing an array of case studies and drawing on cross-disciplinary methodologies, Aubrey Gabel reads three generations of the formalist literary group Oulipo, including Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, and Jacques Jouet, alongside writers not traditionally deemed ludic--or sometimes not even conventionally known as novelists--such as the lesbian activist-writer Monique Wittig and the editor Fran?ois Maspero. Gabel argues that literary ludics serve as both an authorial strategy and a political form: playful methods allow writers not only to represent history in code but also to intervene creatively--as political actors--in the fraught social fields of postwar France. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Aubrey Gabel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0810149281\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780810149281\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Northwestern University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 360\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Aubrey Gabel","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46880930496767,"sku":"9780810149281","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_735f0fff-d9ec-4f54-870a-04d0030b3303.jpg?v=1747970152","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-politics-of-play-aubrey-gabel-9780810149281","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}