Oulipian Works
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Oulipian Works
Oulipo (, short for ; roughly translated as "workshop of potential literature", stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. Other notable members have included novelists Georges Perec and Italo Calvino, poets Oskar Pastior and Jean Lescure, and poet/mathematician Jacques Roubaud. The group defines the term ''littérature potentielle'' as (rough translation): "the seeking of new structures and patterns which may be used by writers in any way they enjoy". Queneau described Oulipians as "rats who construct the labyrinth from which they plan to escape." Constraints are used as a means of triggering ideas and inspiration, most notably Perec's "story-making machine", which he used in the construction of '' Life: A User's Manual''. As well as established techniques, such as lipograms (Perec's novel ''A ...
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Mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematical model, models, and mathematics#Calculus and analysis, change. History One of the earliest known mathematicians was Thales of Miletus (); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales's theorem. The number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos () established the Pythagorean school, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was "All is number". It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake begins. The first woman math ...
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Albert-Marie Schmidt
Albert-Marie Schmidt (10 October 1901 – 8 February 1966) was a French linguist and one of the founding members of the Oulipo. In 1960, the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ..., Schmidt wrote a comprehensive introduction to the life and work of Calvin that placed him in his proper historical perspective in the Protestant Reformation. Schmidt, Albert-Marie. Translated by Ronald Wallace. "Men of Wisdom. John Calvin And The Calvinistic Tradition." New York. Harper & Brothers. 1960. References 1901 births 1966 deaths 20th-century French non-fiction writers Oulipo members 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French linguists {{France-linguist-stub ...
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Gilbert Adair
Gilbert Adair (29 December 19448 December 2011) was a Scottish novelist, poet, film critic, and journalist.Stuart Jeffries and Ronald BerganObituary: Gilbert Adair ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2011. He was critically most famous for the "fiendish" translation of Georges Perec's postmodern novel '' A Void'', in which the letter ''e'' is not used,Jake Kerridge"Gilbert Adair: a man of many parts" ''The Telegraph'', 10 December 2011. but was more widely known for the films adapted from his novels, including '' Love and Death on Long Island'' (1997) and '' The Dreamers'' (2003). Life and career Adair was born in Edinburgh. He attended Kilmarnock Academy, where he contributed short stories to the school magazine, and graduated with an MA in French from the University of Glasgow in 1967. From 1968 to 1980 he lived in Paris. His early works of fiction included '' Alice Through the Needle's Eye'' (following ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass'') an ...
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La Disparition
''A Void'', translated from the original French ( "The Disappearance"), is a 300-page French lipogrammatic novel, written in 1969 by Georges Perec, entirely without using the letter '' e'', following Oulipo constraints. Perec would go on to write with the inverse constraint in ''Les Revenentes'', with only the vowel “e” present in the work. Ian Monk would later translate ''Les Revenentes'' into English under the title ''The Exeter Text.'' Translations It was translated into English by Gilbert Adair, with the title ''A Void'', for which he won the Scott Moncrieff Prize in 1995. The Adair translation of the book also won the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Fiction. Three other English translations are titled ''A Vanishing'' by Ian Monk, ''Vanish'd!'' by John Lee, and ''Omissions'' by Julian West. All translators have imposed upon themselves a similar lipogrammatic constraint to the original, avoiding the most commonly used letter of the alphabet. This precl ...
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Sonnet
A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in 13th-century Sicily, the sonnet was in time taken up in many European-language areas, mainly to express romantic love at first, although eventually any subject was considered acceptable. Many formal variations were also introduced, including abandonment of the quatorzain limit – and even of rhyme altogether in modern times. Romance languages Sicilian Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention at the Court of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The Sicilian School of poets who surrounded Lentini then spread the form to the mainland. Those earliest sonnets no longer survive in the original Sicilian language, however, but only after being translated into Tuscan dialect. The form c ...
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Hundred Thousand Billion Poems
''A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems'' or ''One hundred million million poems'' (original French title: ''Cent mille milliards de poèmes'') is a book by Raymond Queneau, published in 1961. The book is a set of ten sonnets printed on card with each line on a separate strip. As all ten sonnets have not just the same rhyme scheme but the same rhyme sounds, any lines from a sonnet can be combined with any from the nine others, allowing for 1014 (= 100,000,000,000,000) different poems. When Queneau ran into trouble creating the book, he solicited the help of mathematician Francois Le Lionnais, and in the process they initiated Oulipo. The original French version of the book was designed by Robert Massin. Two full translations into English have been published, those by John Crombie and Stanley Chapman. Beverley Charles Rowe's translation, one that uses the same rhyme sounds, has been published online. In 1984, Edition Zweitausendeins in Frankfurt published a German translation by Ludwi ...
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Exercises In Style
''Exercises in Style'' (), written by Raymond Queneau, is a collection of 99 retellings of the same story, each in a different style. In each, the narrator gets on the "S" bus (now no. 84), witnesses an altercation between a man (a zazou) with a long neck and funny hat and another passenger, and then sees the same person two hours later at the Gare St-Lazare getting advice on adding a button to his overcoat. The literary variations recall the famous 33rd chapter of the 1512 rhetorical guide by Desiderius Erasmus, ''Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style''. Translations The book has been translated into the following languages: *English language, English by Barbara Wright (translator), Barbara Wright (1958); reprinted with 28 additional exercises (by Queneau) translated by Chris Clarke and 10 new exercises written in homage (New Directions, 2013) *Serbian language, Serbian by Danilo Kiš (1964) *German language, German by Ludwig Harig and Eugen Helmlé (1974) and by Frank Heibert ...
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Clémentine Mélois
''Clémentine'' (pronounced ) is a 1985 French animated television series (in co-production with Japan). The series consists of 39 episodes which feature the fantastic adventures of a 10-year-old girl (Clémentine Dumat) who uses a wheelchair. The show was produced by "IDDH", a company that originally started out producing French-dubbed versions of Japanese anime. It originally aired on Antenne 2 (now France 2). The series was released on VHS in 1990 and on DVD in 2006. Overview Clémentine is the daughter of a famous French pilot and war hero Alex Dumat, who raised her alone with her brother Petit Boy. After she loses the use of her legs in an airplane accident, she travels the world with her family to find a cure that will allow her to walk again. Meanwhile, in her nightly dreams, she can walk and her cat Hélice (French for "propeller") can talk and fly with the help of a helicopter-like apparatus on its head. Clementine leads a battle against the demon Malmoth, with the guida ...
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Michèle Métail
Michele () is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael. Michele (usually pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically pronounced) name Michelle. Michele can also be a surname. The names are ultimately derived from the Hebrew מִיכָאֵל, through the Greek Μιχαήλ and the Latin Michael meaning "Who is like God?". Men with the given name Michele *Michele (singer) (born 1944), Italian pop singer * Michele Abruzzo (1904–1996), Italian actor *Michele Alboreto (1956–2001), Italian Grand Prix racing driver *Michele Amari (1806–1889), Italian politician and historian *Michele Andreolo (1912–1981), Italian footballer *Michele Bianchi (1883–1930), Italian journalist and revolutionary *Michele Bravi (born 1994), Italian singer *Michele Cachia (1760–1839), Maltese architect and military engineer *Michele Canini (born 1985), Italian foo ...
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Daniel Levin Becker
Daniel Levin Becker (born 1984 in Chicago) is an American writer, translator and musical critic. Life In 2006, he finished his undergraduate studies in English and French at Yale University, where he also wrote for campus humor magazine '' Yale Record''. In 2009 he was elected member of the French literary workshop Oulipo, making him the second American member of this group (the first is Harry Mathews). He was elected after a Fulbright year spent organizing and indexing that group's archives. He is the author of ''Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature,'' published in April 2012 by Harvard University Press. Levin Becker is currently the reviews editor for the magazine '' The Believer''. He also contributes regularly as a music critic for the newspaper ''SF Weekly''. His writings and musical reviews can also be regularly found in ''Dusted Magazine'', ''The Point'', and '' The American Book Review'', He is among a list of contributors to ''The &NOW Awards 2: The ...
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Mathematical Association Of America
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ..., college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists; statisticians; and many others in academia, government, business, and industry. The MAA was founded in 1915 and is headquartered at 11 Dupont in the Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The organization publishes mathematics journals and books, including the ''American Mathematical Monthly'' (established in 1894 by Benjamin Finkel), the most widely read mathematics journal in the world according to re ...
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