Life: A User's Manual ~ Georges Perec : Part 2

 Part 2: 

The Oulipo movement (short for Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which translates to "Workshop of Potential Literature") is a group of writers and mathematicians who sought to create new structures and patterns in literature using constrained writing techniques. Founded in 1960 in France by the writer Raymond Queneau and the mathematician François Le Lionnais, the Oulipo group explores how literature can be generated through the use of mathematical constraints, formal structures, and inventive techniques.

Core Principles:

1. Constraints: The central idea of Oulipo is the use of constraints as a creative tool. These constraints can be linguistic, mathematical, or formal. The belief is that these limitations can stimulate creativity and lead to unexpected and innovative literary works.
2. Potential Literature: The term "potential literature" refers to the idea that the constraints create new possibilities for literary expression. The movement is not tied to any particular genre or style but is more about the exploration of what literature can become when pushed beyond traditional boundaries.
3. Mathematical and Formal Techniques: The group often uses mathematical concepts such as combinatorics, permutations, and algorithms to construct literary works. This can include creating texts that follow specific numerical patterns, such as lipograms (works that omit certain letters) or palindromes (texts that read the same forward and backward).

Notable Members and Works:

1. Raymond Queneau:
• Notable Work: Exercises in Style (1947) — This book presents the same mundane story told in 99 different styles, showcasing how language can be manipulated.
• Contribution: Queneau was instrumental in founding Oulipo and his works often employed the kinds of constraints that would become hallmarks of the movement.
2. Georges Perec:
• Notable Works:
• La Disparition (1969) — A novel written entirely without the letter "e" (a lipogram).
• Life: A User's Manual (1978) — A novel structured around a complex set of rules, including the Knight’s Tour from chess.
• Contribution: Perec is perhaps the most famous Oulipian and was known for his masterful use of constraints to create deeply engaging literature.
3. Italo Calvino:
• Notable Works:
• If on a winter's night a traveler (1979) — A novel that explores the nature of reading, with a structure that plays with the idea of incomplete stories.
• Invisible Cities (1972) — A novel that describes a series of imaginary cities, structured in a way that reflects mathematical symmetries.
• Contribution: Although not a founding member, Calvino joined Oulipo later and his work often reflects the group’s influence, particularly in his use of formal constraints and playful narrative techniques.
4. Jacques Roubaud:
• Notable Work: The Great Fire of London (1989) — An autobiographical novel that uses various formal constraints to explore memory and time.
• Contribution: Roubaud is both a poet and a mathematician, and his work is heavily influenced by Oulipo's principles.
5. Harry Mathews:
• Notable Work: Cigarettes (1987) — A novel structured around a series of interrelated vignettes that explore themes of love, betrayal, and identity.
• Contribution: The only American member of Oulipo, Mathews was known for his inventive use of narrative structures and playful literary techniques.

Impact and Legacy:

The Oulipo movement has had a significant influence on experimental literature. Its emphasis on constraints as a method of stimulating creativity has inspired writers worldwide to explore new ways of constructing narratives. The movement continues to be active, with new members contributing to the ongoing exploration of potential literature.

Oulipo's influence extends beyond literature into other art forms, such as visual art and music, where similar constraints and formal techniques have been used to generate new works.

"Life: A User's Manual" (original title: La Vie mode d'emploi) by Georges Perec is a highly regarded novel that has left a lasting impact on readers and critics alike. Published in 1978, the book is often considered Perec's magnum opus, combining intricate structure, rich detail, and a playful yet profound exploration of life.

Overview:

The novel is set in a Parisian apartment building, and the narrative focuses on the lives of the building’s inhabitants. Perec's writing style is unique, employing a meticulous and almost mathematical approach to storytelling. The structure of the novel is based on a complex set of rules inspired by chess moves (the Knight’s Tour) and other combinatorial principles, which dictate the order and content of each chapter.

Strengths:

1. Structural Innovation:
• The novel's structure is its most striking feature. Perec meticulously planned the layout of the apartment building and the narrative sequence, resulting in a book that is as much a literary puzzle as it is a novel. This structural complexity invites readers to engage with the text in a way that is both challenging and rewarding.
2. Detailed Descriptions:
• Perec is known for his attention to detail, and this novel is no exception. He vividly describes objects, rooms, and the lives of the characters with a precision that creates a rich, immersive experience. Each chapter reads almost like a still life, with every detail contributing to the overall tapestry of the narrative.
3. Exploration of Themes:
• The novel delves into themes of human existence, memory, time, and the passage of life. Perec examines the minutiae of everyday life, highlighting how these small details contribute to the broader picture of human experience. The title, Life: A User’s Manual, suggests that the novel is a guide to understanding life, albeit one that is as complex and multifaceted as life itself.
4. Characterization:
• The book introduces a wide array of characters, each with their own stories, backgrounds, and idiosyncrasies. Through these characters, Perec explores different aspects of life, from mundane routines to deep existential concerns. Despite the large number of characters, Perec manages to give each one a distinct voice and personality.

Challenges:

1. Complexity and Accessibility:
• The novel's intricate structure and the sheer volume of detail can be overwhelming for some readers. It requires patience and attentiveness, as the narrative does not follow a conventional linear path. Readers who prefer straightforward storytelling might find this aspect challenging.
2. Pace and Length:
• Due to its detailed descriptions and the need to adhere to the novel's structural constraints, the pacing can sometimes feel slow. The book is long, and some readers might find the dense, descriptive prose demanding.
3. Fragmented Narrative:
• The narrative jumps between different characters, time periods, and stories, which can make it difficult to keep track of the plot. This fragmentation is intentional, reflecting the complexity of life itself, but it can be disorienting for readers who are not accustomed to such a style.

Conclusion:

Life: A User’s Manual is a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, celebrated for its innovative structure, depth of detail, and philosophical exploration of life. It is a novel that challenges conventional storytelling, offering readers a unique and intellectually stimulating experience. However, its complexity and non-linear narrative may not appeal to everyone. For those who enjoy literary puzzles and are willing to engage deeply with a text, it offers an incredibly rewarding reading experience.

This book is best suited for readers who appreciate literary experimentation and are intrigued by the idea of exploring life through the lens of an intricately crafted, multi-layered narrative.

  

"Life: A User's Manual" by Georges Perec is indeed a novel that is famous for its intricate structure, which is heavily based on the Knight’s Tour from chess, among other constraints. The novel is a masterful example of Oulipo's philosophy of using constraints to generate creativity in literature.

What is the Knight’s Tour?

The Knight’s Tour is a classic chess problem in which a knight must visit every square on a chessboard exactly once. The path that the knight takes can be mapped out in various sequences, and it’s this concept that Perec employs in his novel.

Structure of "Life: A User's Manual":

1. The Apartment Building:
• The novel is set in a fictional Parisian apartment building located at 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier. Perec meticulously designs the building with 10 floors, including the basement and ground floor, and 10 apartments on each floor, making a total of 100 spaces (though not all are apartments; some are staircases, elevators, etc.).
• Each chapter of the novel corresponds to a particular room or space within this building.
2. The Knight’s Tour Constraint:
• Perec uses the Knight’s Tour as a constraint to determine the order in which he describes the rooms of the apartment building. The narrative "moves" from one room to the next in the sequence dictated by the knight’s movement on a chessboard.
• The novel is structured around an orthogonal grid (10x10), representing the layout of the apartment building. The Knight’s Tour defines the order of the 99 chapters (one square of the grid is deliberately left empty).
3. Complex Narrative Weaving:
• Within each chapter, Perec describes the contents of the room in detail, as well as the stories and lives of the occupants or the items in that room. The narrative weaves between the present and the past, and between different characters' stories, all while being anchored to the specific location within the building.
• The movement from one room to another allows Perec to build a mosaic of interconnected stories, much like the pieces of a puzzle coming together.
4. Additional Constraints:
• Perec also imposes other constraints, such as:
• Spoonerisms: Words or phrases in the novel are sometimes deliberately altered to create a play on words.
• Lists and Enumerations: Detailed lists of objects or descriptions, typical of Perec’s style, are included in many chapters.
• Cycling Themes: Themes like puzzles, painting, and disappearance recur throughout the book, often tied to specific rules or motifs that Perec set up.
5. Puzzle-like Nature:
• The novel is often compared to a puzzle, both in its structure and in the way it invites the reader to piece together the lives of the characters and the storylines. Perec himself was an avid puzzle enthusiast, and this love of puzzles is reflected in the way he constructs the novel.

Why Use the Knight’s Tour?

Perec's use of the Knight’s Tour is emblematic of the Oulipo movement’s belief that constraints can inspire creativity rather than restrict it. By forcing the narrative to follow a pre-determined, non-linear path, Perec creates a richly layered story that challenges traditional storytelling methods. The constraint also allows for an exploration of time, space, and memory in a non-chronological and multifaceted way.

Effect of the Constraint:

The constraint of the Knight’s Tour, combined with the other rules Perec set for himself, results in a novel that is incredibly detailed and interconnected. Every small detail or story fragment contributes to the larger picture, much like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The structure also reflects the complexity and randomness of life, where events and stories are interconnected in ways that are not always immediately apparent.

In summary, Life: A User’s Manual is structured around the Knight’s Tour from chess, which dictates the order in which the rooms of an apartment building are described, and through this structure, Perec explores the lives of the building’s inhabitants in a richly detailed and interconnected narrative. This constraint is a prime example of how the Oulipo movement's techniques can create a novel that is both structurally innovative and deeply engaging.

In "Life: A User's Manual" by Georges Perec, the fictional Parisian apartment building at 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier is home to a diverse group of characters, each with their own unique stories, backgrounds, and lives. The novel meticulously details the lives of these inhabitants, and while there are many characters, here are some of the main occupants:

1. Bartlebooth:

• Description: An eccentric Englishman and the novel's central figure. Bartlebooth is independently wealthy and embarks on a bizarre 50-year project: to learn watercolor painting, travel the world painting seascapes, have these paintings turned into jigsaw puzzles, and then reassemble the puzzles upon his return to Paris. Once completed, the puzzles are destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
• Role: Bartlebooth's project serves as a metaphor for the futility and transience of human endeavors.

2. Winckler:

• Description: A skilled artisan who lives in the building and creates the jigsaw puzzles for Bartlebooth. Winckler is also a former prisoner and a puzzle enthusiast, whose work becomes increasingly complex and challenging as time goes on.
• Role: Winckler represents the theme of craftsmanship and the intricate, often obsessive nature of human projects.

3. Madame de Beaumont:

• Description: A widow and an art collector who lives in the building. She is an elegant and cultured woman who surrounds herself with beautiful things, yet she is also lonely and isolated.
• Role: Her story reflects themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time.

4. Valène:

• Description: A painter who lives in the building and has spent years working on a massive painting that attempts to depict the entirety of the building and its inhabitants. Valène's project is never completed, symbolizing the unattainability of capturing the totality of life.
• Role: Valène's work parallels the novel itself, as both are attempts to create a comprehensive, all-encompassing depiction of life.

5. Rorschach:

• Description: A wealthy man who is obsessed with acquiring and controlling rare objects. He is also involved in various schemes, including manipulating the art market.
• Role: Rorschach represents greed and the destructive power of obsession.

6. Moreau:

• Description: A former naval officer who has a fascination with maps and navigation. He is Bartlebooth's friend and helps him with his jigsaw project, although he is skeptical of its purpose.
• Role: Moreau's character explores themes of exploration, both literal and metaphorical, and the idea of charting one's course through life.

7. Madame Albin:

• Description: The concierge of the building. She is a key figure who observes the comings and goings of the residents, often reflecting on their lives and relationships.
• Role: As the concierge, Madame Albin serves as a bridge between the different residents and their stories, embodying the interconnectedness of their lives.

8. Marcel Appenzzell:

• Description: A tenant who is an antique dealer. His life revolves around his business and the history behind the objects he buys and sells.
• Role: Appenzzell's character delves into themes of history, memory, and the value we place on material objects.

9. The Marquises de L'Aigle:

• Description: A noble family who live in the building. Their apartment is filled with historical artifacts and furniture that speak to their aristocratic heritage.
• Role: The Marquises represent the theme of tradition and the weight of history, and how it shapes identity.

10. Georges Morellet:

• Description: A taxidermist who lives and works in the building. His apartment is filled with stuffed animals and various biological specimens.
• Role: Morellet's work with dead animals is a macabre reflection on life, death, and the human desire to preserve what is transient.

11. Madame Marcia:

• Description: A tenant who is a former opera singer. Her story touches on the fading of artistic glory and the inevitability of aging.
• Role: Madame Marcia represents the theme of loss and the ephemeral nature of fame and beauty.

12. The Grimod family:

• Description: A family living in one of the apartments, dealing with ordinary domestic issues and the complexities of family life.
• Role: The Grimod family reflects the everyday, mundane aspects of life that coexist with the more eccentric or grandiose lives of other residents.

13. Cinoc:

• Description: A reclusive scholar who spends his days writing an enormous, never-to-be-finished encyclopedia. He lives in isolation, surrounded by books and papers.
• Role: Cinoc’s work is a symbol of the futility of trying to catalog or contain all human knowledge.

These characters, along with others in the building, create a microcosm of society, where each resident’s life intersects with those of their neighbors. The novel’s structure allows Perec to explore a wide range of human experiences, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, all within the confines of a single apartment building. The detailed portraits of these characters contribute to the novel’s rich tapestry, making "Life: A User’s Manual" a complex and multifaceted exploration of life itself.

“Gaspard Winckler is dead, but the long and meticulous, patiently laid plot of his revenge is not finished yet.”

It's this silent and extended struggle between the puzzle-maker Winckler and Bartlebooth, that is the very essence of the novel. A core that both illustrate the futility of life and people's attempts to instill meaning in life through art. In Perec's authorship what is absent is at least as important as what is there. In the book's center there's a void: both metaphorically and on a deeper level there's something missing. What's missing metaphorically we don't know until Bartlebooth's very last page, and what's lacking in a deeper sense seems to be up to the reader.

For a decade Perec gathered information (emotions, color, style, furnishing, food, literature, music, accessories, toys, etc...) of every single room in the apartment house where the book is set, and sorted all the facts in 99 folders (one for each chapter). Once these facts were collected Perec began the actual writing, or rather describing of each room. The movement from room to room was determined in advance, based on the bishop's movement over a chessboard.

Chapter fifty-one, and one of the characters, an artist called Valène, considers painting a picture of the apartment block, with the front removed and he will paint all the inhabitants of the building in situ, including himself. Perec then proceeds to create a list which we soon realise is a list of short descriptions of characters in the book so far and, as we don’t recognise all of them, characters who will appear in the rest of the book. Because the text used for the list is a monospaced typeface, possibly Courier, it is obvious that each list entry is the same length, which turns out to be sixty characters. We then notice that every ten entries are blocked together and there is a separator after 60 entries. There is another separator at 120 and another at 180….well, not quite, it ends at 179.

If you look on the second image you may be able to see that a diagonal line appears from top-right to bottom-left. This is formed because of a further pattern that Perec has used. Line 61 ends with the letter ‘g’, the second to last letter in line 62 is also ‘g’, the third from last letter in line 63 is also ‘g’ and so on until we get to line 120 which starts with ‘G’ thus forming a diagonal of ‘g’s. Now that we know that the second block has this pattern we can see if the first and third blocks also have this pattern. Although it’s not so obvious we can see that there is a similar diagonal of ‘e’s in lines 1-60 and a diagonal of ‘o’s in lines 121-179, which together spells ‘EGO’. In French the diagonals spell ‘AME’, French for ‘soul’ and the German translator used ‘ICH’, German for ‘I’ . Is there any further significance of the 60 lines/60 characters structure?

It’s a fun book that can be maddening at times, and even dull every now and then.