"After inventing incident 'n' between thread 'A' and thread 'B,' there must be invented immediately an incident of numerical order ' n + 1' involving thread 'A' with still another thread 'C'; then an incident 'n + 2' involving the same thread 'A' with one 'D'; then an incident 'n + 3' comprising an incident between thread 'A' and still a further thread 'E'; and this, to avoid an impasse, must be carried on as a rule to not less than an incident of order 'n + 4' or even 'n + 5'; and now mark well the essential desideratum of this preliminary invention. Here it is: Incident 'n' must produce incident 'n + 1'; 'n + 2' must be the result of 'n + 1'; 'n + 3' must be the result of 'n + 2'; and so on. This much correctly done, any writer - no matter who he be - will have a real set of threads with which to weave, as well as the nucleus - if we may use such a term - of the web itself."
From the Oulipo Companion:
N + 7 - A method invented by Jean Lescure that consists (in Queneau's terse definition) "in replacing each noun (N) with the seventh following it in a dictionary...When choosing a dictionary, it is useful to remember that the smaller it is, the greater the alphabetic distance between the original word and its replacement and the simpler the words found."
Say what?
Is this a mystery novel or a portable experimental writing workshop? While one seems vastly more convoluted than the other (you be the judge), each are inventive ways for narrative creation/construction. Could it be that HSK is a founding father of the Oulipo?
"The Strange Adventures of the Overlooked Oullipian." Hmmm.
No comments:
Post a Comment