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Georges Perec and Anne Garréta: Oulipo, Constraint and Crime Fiction.

O'Meara, Lucy (2014) Georges Perec and Anne Garréta: Oulipo, Constraint and Crime Fiction. Nottingham French Studies, 53 (1). pp. 35-48. ISSN 0029-4586. E-ISSN 2047-7236. (doi:10.3366/nfs.2014.0071) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:42064)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/nfs.2014.0071

Abstract

This article examines two novels written by members of the Oulipo group, exploring the ways in which Georges Perec's La Disparition (1969) and Anne F. Garréta's La Décomposition (1999) both use Oulipian constraints within a narrative infrastructure drawn from subgenres of crime fiction: La Disparition is a whodunnit, and La Décomposition a first-person noir narrative. I argue that Perec and Garréta use the alliance of constraint and crime fiction in order to articulate a probing account of their protagonists’ impossible quests for metaphysical certainty in the face of death and loss. The genre-constraint alliance is also the means by which Perec and Garréta express their dissatisfaction with aspects of contemporary literary culture and reception. The article examines why the tropes of crime fiction are of particular use to these Oulipian authors in their investigation of the purposes and potential of literature.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.3366/nfs.2014.0071
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PQ Romance Literature > PQ1 French Literature
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Fiona Symes
Date Deposited: 01 Aug 2014 13:06 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42064 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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