Re: Oulipo founded (24/11/1960)

On Sun, 24 Nov 2024 10:45:14 +0000, Ross Clark wrote:

OUvroir de LIttératire POtentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature)
"a group of mainly French writers who created experimental works using
techniques of constrained writing"
>
Examples of constraints:
- using only words extracted from a previously existing text [as in _A
Humument_]
https://www.tomphillips.co.uk/humument
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Humument
- a technological length constraint [Twitterature]
>
- avoidance -- writing a work that does not contain a particular letter
(lipogram) or punctuation mark or part of speech
_Gadsby_ by Ernest Wright, uses no <e>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsby_(novel)
_La Disparition_ by Georges Perec likewise
(Perec is the only one of the Oulipo group Crystal names)
>
- or insistence -- every word must contain a particular letter...etc.
>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo
>
I guess the -lipo in Oulipo was probably a deliberate link to the lipo-
in lipogram (which goes back to the 18th century), from Greek leipein
'to leave out, to be missing'.
>
"Ouvroir" is a pretty obscure word. (A "writer's workshop" would, I
think, normally be called an "atelier" in French.) Petit Larousse says
>
Ouvroir (n.m.) Etablissement de bienfaisance où des jeunes filles et des
femmes se livrent en commun à des travaux de lingerie; dans les
communautés de femmes, lieu où les religieuses s'assemblent pour
travailler.
>
Sounds a bit like the Magdalen Laundries, or a workhouse for indigent
females.
>
Any special reason why they would choose that? (All those named in the
Wiki article were men. They did, however, have some connection with
Pataphysics -- which we won't get into here.)

     Maybe because i know so few French verbs...
         the name Oulipo  always reminds me of this verb.
Il est facile d'oublier les détails.
J'oublie souvent mes clés.
N'oublie pas de me rappeler.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ouvroir = workroom, sewing room
[sewing room]  (maybe influenced by what you said)
                       made me think of that awful fire in NYC
Verbs ouvrer, oeuvrer related?
                >>>   Doublet of œuvrer (an analogical form created to
avoid the confusion with ouvrir) and opérer.
____________________
Ouvrer: This verb means "to work" or "to operate" and is often used in a
more general sense, sometimes referring to manual labor or functioning.
Œuvrer: This verb means "to work" in the sense of creating or producing,
particularly in an artistic or constructive context. It is associated
with the noun "œuvre," which refers to a body of work.
i see...  they avoided  Œuvrer   out of a conceited mindset
common among the Artsy types.