A quick post today, to point you in the direction of the rather lovely Shiny New Books site! Those of you who follow SNB will know of the technical crisis recently when the whole blog was accidentally deleted – horrors! Furtunately, technical whizz Annabel has been reinstating the blog, with a sparkly new look, so do pop over and have a look. If you aren’t following yet, you’re in for a treat, as the regular weekly posts will alert you to all manner of interesting-sounding and intriguing new works; the downside, of course, is that your wishlist and tbr will grow… ;D
Anyway, I have a new piece up there today, and instead of a review it’s a feature in the Bookbuzz section considering some of these guys:
Yes, I’ve been happy to provide a beginner’s primer to the Oulipo authors, with potted biographies, a look at some anthologies and suggestions of where you could start reading works from this intriguing group of writers! I don’t claim to be an expert – but I *have* read a good number of books by the group, so if you’re interested in exploring their rather wonderful books, hopefully my primer will be a helpful guide. Do pop over and have a look here – and why not explore Shiny while you’re at it? 😀
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Apr 30, 2020 @ 12:58:45
I recently bought the Penguin Oulipo. It looks fascinating.
Apr 30, 2020 @ 15:03:58
Doesn’t it? I’m very intrigued by the fact that they’ve stepped outside just collecting works by members of the group and looked at authors in the Ouilipian tradition!
Apr 30, 2020 @ 15:26:10
Thanks for the heads up. I know next to nothing about this literary movement so will pop over to take a look.
Apr 30, 2020 @ 15:47:34
Welcome! There are some very intriguing and rather wonderful books from Oulipo authors so you might find something to suit you!
Apr 30, 2020 @ 17:43:09
Loved your post, Kaggsy! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Oulipo writers and their works and for your recommendations! I didn’t know that there was a Penguin Book Oulipo. I want, I want! 😁
Apr 30, 2020 @ 20:45:18
Thanks Vishy! It certainly is a beautiful volume!
Apr 30, 2020 @ 20:50:56
I don’t know anything about Oulipo so I definitely need to pop over and look.
Apr 30, 2020 @ 20:52:31
There are some fascinating books by the group, and lots of very readable stuff despite the constraints.
May 01, 2020 @ 01:56:52
Italo Calvino – another favorite. If on a Winter’s Night was also my first Calvino and I fell in love. Your description of Anne Garréta’s book reminds me of the all-too-few wonderful mystery books of Sarah Caudwell and her Professor/sleuth.
May 01, 2020 @ 08:37:46
Me too – I’d never read a book like it and it created a lifelong love and obsession with Calvino! I’ve not read the Caudwell books, but they do sound intriguing!
May 01, 2020 @ 22:26:44
Me three! (Now hopefully this falls into line after the chat about Winter, otherwise I’ll just seem rather odd, if enthusiastic.)
May 02, 2020 @ 13:14:20
It does, and it’s obviously one of those books which changes the way you see the world – at least, it was for me!
May 02, 2020 @ 01:31:40
I think Caudwell was a QC(?), anyway a busy legal career with not much time for writing, and then she died way too young. Professor Hilary Tamar is a marvelous character and the books are written with the driest sense of humor. I think readers either adore her books or can’t stand them and I’m definitely in first group.
May 02, 2020 @ 13:11:47
Oh, intriguing! I definitely will look out for these!
May 02, 2020 @ 06:55:06
There’s a certain irony in that Sarah Caudwell – the daughter of Claud Cockburn and Jean Ross, two dedicated Marxists – was an expert on tax law and tax avoidance.
May 02, 2020 @ 17:14:53
LOL! ;D
May 01, 2020 @ 09:50:07
Thank you so much for writing that piece for Shiny.
May 01, 2020 @ 11:05:58
Very welcome! It was fun to do! 😀
May 01, 2020 @ 19:07:51
Shiny New Books won’t let me on to comment for some reason, but La Disparition also does without the letter E, not the letter A.
May 02, 2020 @ 17:20:14
You’re correct – it’s a missing E not A! I’m obviously getting my vowels in a twist!
May 01, 2020 @ 19:58:14
What a great introduction – it reminds me I need to read more Qeneau and Harry Mathews.
May 01, 2020 @ 20:11:45
Thanks Grant! I really should get round to reading Mathews too!
May 01, 2020 @ 22:27:14
That seems like the perfect assignment for you. Good luck to all the eager students!
May 02, 2020 @ 13:13:45
;D always eager where books are concerned!
May 02, 2020 @ 01:59:01
Oh, so frustrating! I wrote my comment at Shiny, and got an error message for my trouble: “Invalid security token” What does that mean, eh?
Anyway, by hitting my back button I got my comment back and here it is:
Thanks for this, I was about to start exploring Oulipo properly when my eye surgery intervened in February and my reading has been compromised ever since. I’ve read Calvino but not any of the others, but when I borrowed A Void from the library, I decided I wanted to read it in French at the same time. It took me a while to hunt it down, and now, alas, the library is closed.
I have Exercises in Style, in French too, but not in English, and in English, I have Life a User’s Manual.
One thing I can do right now, is to tag these titles with Oulipo at Goodreads!
May 02, 2020 @ 13:11:26
Oh dear! I don’t know that that means – I know Annabel is busy rebuilding the site so maybe it’s part of the whole process?
but thank you for your comment. I am jealous of you being able to read some of these books in French. They’re such fun, and very thought provoking. At least you have some to hand until libraries are back! 😀
May 02, 2020 @ 18:27:14
Adair’s translation – as you might expect – is “free”, as they say, so A Void won’t make much of a crib!
May 04, 2020 @ 01:11:33
Hello Roger, I’m not looking for a crib. Not knowing that Adair avoided ‘e’ instead of ‘a’ I came across his way of avoiding the word Jew (with its ‘e’) and straightaway wondered about the French version because with what French I have, I knew that the French word ‘juif’ had no ‘e’ in it. So that is what I am interested in, the ways in which the two versions differ.
May 07, 2020 @ 02:54:09
hmm, I wrote a long comment about Oulipo authors that I love so much on your other site, and I got this “Invalid security token.”. Is my comment lost?? I had added a reference, but no link. Let me know if you can’t recover it, and I’ll comment here
May 07, 2020 @ 05:49:42
Oh dear. I’ve heard that from someone else too – I’ll have a word with the Shiny people but I’m wondering if there is a glitch somewhere while Annabel is rebuilding the site? I’m afraid I don’t know if the comment can be recovered which is a nuisance…