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Georges Perec | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1936-03-07)7 March 1936 Paris, France |
| Died | 3 March 1982(1982-03-03) (aged 45) Ivry-sur-Seine, France |
| Occupation | Novelist,filmmaker,essayist |
| Language | French |
| Notable awards |
|
| Spouse | Paulette Petras |
Georges Perec (French:[ʒɔʁʒpeʁɛk];[1] 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a Frenchnovelist,filmmaker,documentalist, andessayist. He was a member of theOulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in theSecond World War and his mother was killed inthe Holocaust. Many of his works deal with absence, loss, and identity, often throughword play.[2]
Born in a working-class district of Paris, Perec was the only son of Icek Judko and Cyrla (Schulewicz) Peretz, Polish Jews who had emigrated to France in the 1920s. He was a distant relative of theYiddish writerIsaac Leib Peretz. Perec's father, who enlisted in the French Army during World War II, died in 1940 from untreated gunfire or shrapnel wounds, and his mother was killed in theHolocaust, probably inAuschwitz sometime after 1943. Perec was taken into the care of his paternal aunt and uncle in 1942, and in 1945, he was formally adopted by them.
Perec started writing reviews and essays forLa Nouvelle Revue française andLes Lettres nouvelles, prominent literary publications, while studying history andsociology at theSorbonne. In 1958/59 Perec served in the French army as aparatrooper (XVIIIe Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes); he married Paulette Petras after being discharged. They spent one year (1960/1961) inSfax, Tunisia, where Paulette worked as a teacher; these experiences are reflected inThings: A Story of the Sixties, which is about a young Parisian couple who also spend a year in Sfax.
In 1961 Perec began working at the Neurophysiological Research Laboratory in the unit's research library funded by theCNRS and attached to theHôpital Saint-Antoine in Paris as anarchivist, a low-paid position which he retained until 1978. A few reviewers have noted that the daily handling of records and varied data may have influenced his literary style. In any case, Perec's work on the reassessment of the academic journals under subscription was influenced by a talk about the handling of scientific information given byEugene Garfield in Paris, and he was introduced toMarshall McLuhan byJean Duvignaud. Perec's other major influence was theOulipo, which he joined in 1967, meetingRaymond Queneau, among others. Perec dedicated his masterpiece,La Vie mode d'emploi (Life: A User's Manual) to Queneau, who died before it was published.
Perec began working on a series ofradio plays with his translator Eugen Helmle and the musicianPhilippe Drogoz [de] in the late 60s; less than a decade later, he was making films. His first cinematic work, based on his novel Un Homme qui dort, was co-directed byBernard Queysanne [fr], and won the feature-filmPrix Jean Vigo in 1974. Perec also createdcrossword-puzzles forLe Point from 1976 on.
La Vie mode d'emploi (1978) brought Perec some financial and critical success—it won thePrix Médicis—and allowed him to turn to writing full-time. He was awriter-in-residence at theUniversity of Queensland in Australia in 1981, during which time he worked on53 Jours (53 Days), which remained unfinished. Shortly after his return from Australia, his health deteriorated. A heavy smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died the following year inIvry-sur-Seine at age 45, four days shy of his 46th birthday; his ashes are held at thecolumbarium of thePère Lachaise Cemetery.
Many of Perec's novels and essays abound with experimentalword play, lists and attempts atclassification, and they are usually tinged withmelancholy.
Perec's first novelLes Choses (published in English asThings: A Story of the Sixties) (1965) was awarded thePrix Renaudot.
Perec's most famous novelLa Vie mode d'emploi (Life: A User's Manual) was published in 1978. Its title page describes it as "novels", in the plural, the reasons for which become apparent on reading.La Vie mode d'emploi is a tapestry of interwoven stories and ideas as well as literary and historical allusions, based on the lives of the inhabitants of a fictitious Parisian apartment block. It was written according to a complex plan of writing constraints and is primarily constructed from several elements, each adding a layer of complexity. The 99 chapters of his 600-page novel move like a knight's tour of a chessboard around the room plan of the building, describing the rooms and stairwell and telling the stories of the inhabitants. At the end, it is revealed that the whole book actually takes place in a single moment, with a final twist that is an example of "cosmic irony". It was translated into English byDavid Bellos in 1987.
Perec is noted for hisconstrained writing. His 300-page novelLa disparition (1969) is alipogram, written with natural sentence structure and correct grammar, but using only words that do not contain the letter "e". It has been translated into English byGilbert Adair under the titleA Void (1994). His novellaLes revenentes (1972) is a complementaryunivocalic piece in which the letter "e" is the only vowel used. This constraint affects even the title, which would conventionally be speltRevenantes. An English translation byIan Monk was published in 1996 asThe Exeter Text: Jewels, Secrets, Sex in the collectionThree. It has been remarked byJacques Roubaud that these two novels draw words from twodisjoint sets of the French language, and that a third novel would be possible, made from the words not used so far (those containing both "e" and a vowel other than "e").
W ou le souvenir d'enfance, (W, or the Memory of Childhood, 1975) is a semi-autobiographical work that is hard to classify. Two alternating narratives make up the volume: The first is a fictional outline of a remote island country called "W", which at first appears to be autopian society modelled on theOlympic ideal but is gradually exposed as a horrifying,totalitarian prison much like aconcentration camp. The second is a description of Perec's childhood during and after World War II. Both narratives converge towards the end, highlighting the common theme ofthe Holocaust.
"Cantatrix sopranica L. Scientific Papers" is a spoof scientific paper detailing experiments on the "yelling reaction" provoked in sopranos by pelting them with rotten tomatoes. All references in the paper are multi-lingualpuns and jokes; e.g., "(Karybb &Szyla, 1973)".[5]
David Bellos, who has translated several of Perec's works, wrote an extensive biography of Perec entitledGeorges Perec: A Life in Words, which won theAcadémie Goncourt'sbourse for biography in 1994.
The Association Georges Perec has extensive archives on the author in Paris.[6]
In 1992 Perec's initially rejected novelGaspard pas mort (Gaspard not dead), believed to be lost, was found by David Bellos amongst papers in the house of Perec's friendAlain Guérin [fr]. The novel was reworked several times and retitledLe Condottière[7] and published in 2012; its English translation by Bellos followed in 2014 asPortrait of a Man after the1475 painting of that name byAntonello da Messina.[8] The initial title borrows the name Gaspard from thePaul Verlaine poem "Gaspar Hauser Chante"[2] (inspired byKaspar Hauser, from the 1881 collectionSagesse) and characters named "Gaspard" appear in bothW, or the Memory of Childhood andLife: A User's Manual, while inMICRO-TRADUCTIONS, 15 variations discrètes sur un poème connu he creatively re-writes the Verlaine poem fifteen times.
Asteroidno. 2817, discovered in 1982, was named after Perec. In 1994, a street in the20th arrondissement of Paris was named after him,rue Georges-Perec [fr]. TheFrench postal service issued a stamp in 2002 in his honour; it was designed byMarc Taraskoff and engraved byPierre Albuisson. He was featured as aGoogle Doodle on his 80th birthday.[9]
The most complete bibliography of Perec's works is Bernard Magné'sTentative d'inventaire pas trop approximatif des écrits de Georges Perec (Toulouse, Presses Universitaires du Mirail, 1993).
| Year | Original French | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Les Choses (Paris: René Juillard, 1965) | Things: A Story of the Sixties, trans. byHelen Lane (New York: Grove Press, 1967); Things: A Story of the Sixties inThings: A Story of the Sixties & A Man Asleep trans. byDavid Bellos and Andrew Leak (London: Vintage, 1999) |
| 1966 | Quel petit vélo à guidon chromé au fond de la cour? (Paris: Denoël, 1966) | Which Moped with Chrome-plated Handlebars at the Back of the Yard?, trans. byIan Monk inThree by Perec (Harvill Press, 1996) |
| 1967 | Un homme qui dort (Paris: Denoël, 1967) | A Man Asleep, trans. by Andrew Leak inThings: A Story of the Sixties & A Man Asleep (London: Vintage, 1999) |
| 1969 | La Disparition (Paris: Denoël, 1969) | A Void, trans. byGilbert Adair (London: Harvill, 1994) |
| 1969 | Petit traité invitant à la découverte de l'art subtil dugo, with Pierre Lusson andJacques Roubaud (Paris: Christian Bourgois, 1969) | A Short Treatise Inviting the Reader to Discover the Subtle Art of Go, trans. by Peter Consenstein (Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, 2019) |
| 1972 | Les Revenentes, (Paris: Editions Julliard, 1972) | The Exeter Text: Jewels, Secrets, Sex, trans. by Ian Monk inThree by Perec (Harvill Press, 1996) |
| 1972 | Die Maschine, (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1972) | The Machine, trans. by Ulrich Schönherr in "The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Georges Perec Issue: Spring 2009 Vol. XXIX, No. 1" (Chicago: Dalkey Archive, 2009) |
| 1973 | La Boutique obscure: 124 rêves, (Paris: Denoël, 1973) | La Boutique Obscure: 124 Dreams, trans. by Daniel Levin Becker (Melville House, 2013) |
| 1974 | Espèces d'espaces [fr] (Paris: Galilée 1974) | Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, ed. and trans. byJohn Sturrock (London: Penguin, 1997; rev. ed. 1999) |
| 1974 | Ulcérations, (Bibliothèque oulipienne, 1974) | — |
| 1975 | W ou le souvenir d'enfance (Paris: Denoël, 1975) | W, or the Memory of Childhood, trans. by David Bellos (London: Harvill, 1988) |
| 1975 | Tentative d'épuisement d'un lieu parisien (Paris: Christian Bourgois, 1975) | An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, trans. by Marc Lowenthal (Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, 2010) |
| 1976 | Alphabets illust. byDado (Paris: Galilée, 1976) | — |
| 1978 | Je me souviens, (Paris: Hachette, 1978) | Memories, trans./adapted by Gilbert Adair (inMyths and Memories London: HarperCollins, 1986); I Remember, trans. by Philip Terry and David Bellos (Boston: David R. Godine, 2014) |
| 1978 | La Vie mode d'emploi (Paris: Hachette, 1978) | Life: A User's Manual, trans. by David Bellos (London: Vintage, 2003) |
| 1979 | Les mots croisés, (Mazarine, 1979) | — |
| 1979 | Un cabinet d'amateur, (Balland, 1979) | A Gallery Portrait, trans. by Ian Monk inThree by Perec (Harvill Press, 1996) |
| 1980 | La Clôture et autres poèmes, (Paris: Hachette, 1980) – Contains apalindrome of 1,247 words (5,566 letters).[10] | — |
| 1980 | Récits d'Ellis Island: Histoires d'errance et d'espoir, (INA/Éditions du Sorbier, 1980) | Ellis Island and the People of America (withRobert Bober), trans. byHarry Mathews (New York: New Press, 1995) |
| 1981 | Théâtre I, (Paris: Hachette, 1981) | — |
| 1982 | Epithalames, (Bibliothèque oulipienne, 1982) | — |
| 1985 | Penser Classer (Paris: Hachette, 1985) | Thoughts of Sort, trans. by David Bellos (Boston: David R. Godine, 2009) |
| 1986 | Les mots croisés II, (P.O.L.-Mazarine, 1986) | — |
| 1989 | 53 Jours, unfinished novel ed. byHarry Mathews andJacques Roubaud (Paris: P.O.L., 1989) | 53 Days, trans. by David Bellos (London: Harvill, 1992) |
| 1989 | L'infra-ordinaire (Paris: Seuil, 1989) | — |
| 1989 | Voeux, (Paris: Seuil, 1989) | Wishes, trans. by Mara Cologne Wythe-Hall (Cambridge, MA: Wakefield Press, 2018) |
| 1990 | Je suis né, (Paris: Seuil, 1990) | — |
| 1991 | Cantatrix sopranica L. et autres écrits scientifiques, (Paris: Seuil, 1991) | "Cantatrix sopranica L. Scientific Papers" withHarry Mathews (London: Atlas Press, 2008) |
| 1992 | L.G.: Une aventure des années soixante, (Paris: Seuil, 1992) Containing pieces written from 1959 to 1963 for the journalLa Ligne générale: Le Nouveau Roman et le refus du réel; Pour une littérature réaliste; Engagement ou crise du langage; Robert Antelme ou la vérité de la littérature; L'univers de la science-fiction; La perpétuelle reconquête;Wozzeck ou la méthode de l'apocalypse. | — |
| 1993 | Le Voyage d'hiver, 1993 (Paris: Seuil, 1993) | The Winter Journey, trans. byJohn Sturrock (London: Syrens, 1995) |
| 1994 | Beaux présents belles absentes, (Paris: Seuil, 1994) | — |
| 1999 | Jeux intéressants (Zulma, 1999) | — |
| 1999 | Nouveaux jeux intéressants (Zulma, 1999) | — |
| 2003 | Entretiens et conférences (in 2 volumes, Joseph K., 2003) | — |
| 2008 | L'art et la manière d'aborder son chef de service pour lui demander une augmentation (Hachette) | The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise (published in the United States asThe Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise), trans. byDavid Bellos (Verso, 2011) |
| 2012 | Le Condottière (Éditions du Seuil, 2012) | Portrait of a Man Known as Il Condottiere, translated by David Bellos (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014) |
| 2016 | L'Attentat de Sarajevo (Éditions du Seuil, 2016) | |
| 2019 | Entretiens, conférences, textes rares, inédits (in one volume, 1104 p., Joseph K., 2019) |
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