Exercises in Style - Raymond Queneau

Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, translated by Barbara Wright / ISBN 9780811220354 / 262-page paperback with flaps from New Directions *** "Queneau’s Exercises in Style is a thrilling masterpiece and, in fact, one of the greatest stories in French literature."― Vladimir Nabokov A new edition of a French modernist classic - a Parisian scene told ninety-nine different ways - with new material written in homage by the likes of Jonathan Lethem, Rivka Galchen, and many more. On a crowded bus at midday, Raymond Queneau observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the first man appropriates it. Later, in another part of town, Queneau sees the man being advised by a friend to sew a new button on his overcoat. Exercises in Style ― Queneau’s experimental masterpiece and a hallmark book of the Oulipo literary group ― retells this unexceptional tale ninety-nine times, employing the sonnet and the alexandrine, onomatopoeia and Cockney. An “Abusive”