Exercises of style

Exercices of style is one of the most famous works of the writer French Raymond Queneau. Appeared in 1947, this book singular tells 99 times the same history, in 99 different ways.

The history itself holds in a few words. The narrator meets in a bus an young man with the long neck, capped of a hat decorated with a braid holding place of ribbon. This young man exchanges some rather sharp words with another traveller, then will sit down in a place become free. A little later, the narrator re-examines this young man who is then discussing with a friend. This one advises to him to make go up the higher button of its overcoat.

Literary constraint and ludic pleasure

The Exercices of style are a brilliant example of application of a literary forced (to write 99 times same history) as a creative engine and for this reason constitute a precursory text of the movement Oulipo whose Raymond Queneau will be one of the founders. The presence of a second constraint (each version of the history must illustrate a stylistic kind particular good) appears with the reading of the titles of the 99 versions of the history:

Notations, Partly double, Understatement S, Métaphoriquement, Retrogresses, Surprise S, Rêve, Pronostications, Synchyses, the rainbow, Logo-rally, Hésitations, Précisions, the subjective side, Another subjectivity, Récit, Composition of words, Négativités, Animiste, Anagramme S, Distinguo, Homéotéleutes, official Lettre, Prière insert, Onomatopée S, Analyze logical, Insistance, Ignorance, indefinite Passé, Présent, Preterit, Imparfait, Alexandrin S, Polyptote S, Aphérèse S, Apocope S, Syncope S, Me I, Exclamations, Then, Bombastic, Vulgar, Interrogation, Comedy, Aside S, Paréchèses, Ghostly, Philosophical, Apostrophizes, Maladroit, Désinvolte, Partial, Sonnet, Olfactif, Gustatif, Tactile, Visuel, Auditif, Télégraphique, Ode, Permutations by increasing groups of letters, Permutations by increasing groups of words, Hellénismes, Ensembliste, Définitionnel, Tanka, Verse free S, Translation, Lipogramme, Anglicisme S, Prosthèse S, Épenthèse S, Paragoges, Parts of speech, Métathèses, By front by behind, Proper names, Loucherbem, Javanese, Antonymique, Macaronique, Homophonique, Italianisms, Botanical Poor lay Zanglay, Against-petteries, , Medical, Abusive, Gastronomical, Zoological, Impotent, Modern style, Probabilist, Portrait, Geometrical, Peasant, Interjections, Invaluable, Unexpected.

Umberto Eco, which translated the Exercices of Italian style in , points out that Queneau diverts readily the esthetic values associated with the figures with Rhétorique in order to be able to carry out its own parodic and ludic explorations of the language. Eco also observes that the act of translation, by introducing an additional constraint, gives birth to a new pleasure: “I thus know which pleasure one tests to suffer on a sentence which resists to you, that it is necessary to betray by respecting the intentions of its author. ” This share made with the play and the pleasure obviously was tasted by many people and was worth with the Exercices of style an abundant posterity.

Editions and misadventures

Among the texts which compose the collection, several appeared initially under the Occupation, in 1943, in the review Messages directed by Jean Lescure. Following the exit of the Exercises of style in 1947, Gallimard publishes in 1963 an 2nd edition accompanied by 45 “painted parallel exercises of style, drawn or carved” by Jacques Carelman and of 99 “typographical exercises of style” of Robert Massin.

The first adaptations of the Exercices of Style take place with the theater, where they are put in scene by Yves Robert at the cabaret of the Red rose at Saint-Germain-of-Meadows in 1949, then sung by the Brothers Jacques and played Théâtre of Pocket of Brussels in 1954. The adaptation of Jacques Seiler, played Theater Montparnasse in 1980, will be taken again by the French television channel FR3 and will be diffused in 1982 and 1985. In this beginning of the 21e century, new adaptations for the scene are born each year.

The Exercices of style knew multiple incarnations in addition: alternatives and parodies in all the kinds, exercises of language for French schoolboys and foreign students, experiments of writing in the literary reviews, pastiches and transpositions on Internet. Some notable examples are given here.

Bernard Demers, new exercises of style. Some variations on a topic of Raymond Queneau , the pre one with the clerks, 1991. 99 alternatives of the Exercises of style .
Lucien d' Azay, New exercises of style , Rainbow, 1996. Pastiches of Alphonse Boudard, Marguerite Duras, Jean Echenoz, JMG Clézio, Patrick Modiano, Pascal Quignard, Francoise Sagan, Jorge Semprun and Philippe Sollers in the style of Queneau.
Stephan Tufféry, style, directions for use, CyLibris, 1999 (first edition), 2002. 99 new alternatives of the Exercises of style , with the manner of Honore de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Marcel Proust, Edmond Rostand, Albert Camus, Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino, Marguerite Duras, Angelo Rinaldi, Philippe Delerm, Arlette Laguiller, a journalist, an advertizing executive, a rappor, a scenario writer, a data processing specialist… *Le Café (written French Course autodidactic) of Montreal accommodates new Exercices of style and accompanies them by notes on the literary processes used. *Matt Madden publishes several pages extracted from its album Exercises in Style (in English) inspired of the program of the Oubapo (Sewing room of the Potential Cartoon). *Nicolas Graner collects the messages of people hopelessly seeking to stop subscribing Oulipo list, which are parodies of the Exercices of style .
the oulipien Herve Tellier, in homage to Exercises of style , fifty years after the publication of the work, composed hundred courts point of view of on the Joconde, entitled Joconde up to hundred , then hundred others, under the title Joconde on your indulgence .
Georges Pierru makes appear “ Exercices of SFtyle ” in the form of accounts of Science-fiction.
Emmanuel Aquin, Chambranleuse. Sexercices of style , Quebec, Editions Break point, 2000.

In addition the book was translated into several languages: English by Barbara Wright (1958), Catalan by Annie Bast and Ramon Lladó, Spanish by Antonio Fernández To shoe, Italian by Umberto Eco, Dutch by Rudy Kousbroek, Norwegian by Ragnar Hovland, Turkish by Armagan Ekici (2003), German by Ludwig Harig and Eugen Helmlé and Euskara by Xabier Olarra.

See too

Texts Extracted the book of Raymond Queneau.
Extracted sound Reading from extracts of the book of Raymond Queneau in format MP3.
Bibliography only Devoted to the Exercises of style .
Article Article of Wiki Contraintes.net on the book of Raymond Queneau.
Article Adapting Queneau' S Exercices of Style to Classroom Uses: Year Experiment in Creative Writing At the Undergraduate Level . In connection with the use of the Exercises of style in French foreign language.

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