Founded in 1960, OULIPO (short for French: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle) has been active in the exploration of the effects of constraints or arbitrary rules in the production of literature.
Developed in the 13th century, the sonnet
(with 14 lines, 10 syllables per line and a prescribed rhyme scheme)
is a well-known member of these "constrained" forms. The Haiku is another.
Published in 2005, the Oulipo Compendium, Revised and Updated (edited by Harry Mathews and Alastair Brioche, Make Now Press, Los Angeles) contains definitions and examples of a large variety of rule-following writing. On page 173 we find some interesting comments about language by French poet Jean Lescure (1912-2005):
" . . . Lescure remarks that we frequently have the impression
that language in itself 'has something to say' and that nowhere
is this impression more evident than in its possibilities for permutation.
They are enough to teach us that to listen we must be silent;
enough to transform a well-oiled bicycle into a well-boiled icicle."
Showing posts with label Jean Lescure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean Lescure. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Monday, January 3, 2011
New poems from old -- by permutation
One of the founding members of the Oulipo, Jean Lescure (1912-2005), devised categories of permutations of selected words of a poem to form a new poem; three of these rearrangements are illustrated below using the opening stanza of "Mathematics or the Gift of Tongues" by Anna Hempstead Branch (1875-1937). Here is the original stanza from Branch's poem:
Labels:
Anna Hempstead Branch,
Jean Lescure,
mathematics,
Oulipo,
permutation,
poetry,
word play
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)