Life a User's Manual (the original title is La Vie mode d'emploi ) is the most famous novel of Georges Perec, published on in 1978, was first translated into English by David Bellos in 1987. The title page describes it as "novel", in plural form, the reason that becomes clear in reading. Some critics refer to this work as an example of postmodern fiction, though Perec himself preferred to avoid the label and his only long-term affiliation with any movement was with Oulipo or OUvroir de LIttÃÆ' Â © rature POtentielle. .
The La Vie mode d'emploi is a tapestry of stories and ideas and allusions of literature and history, based on the lives of Parisian fictional apartment block residents, 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier (no such avenue exists, though Quadrangle Perec claims Simon-Crubellier's cuts do exist in Paris's XVII arrondissement). It was written according to a complicated writing plan, and was mainly built from several elements, each adding a layer of complexity.
Video Life a User's Manual
Plot
Between World War I and II, a very wealthy British, Bartlebooth (whose name combines two literary characters, Herman Melville's Bartleby and Barnabas's Valery Larbaud), plans a plan that will spend the rest of his life and spend all his wealth. First, he spent 10 years studying painting watercolor under the care of Valène, who also became the resident of 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier. Later, he started a 20-year journey around the world with a loyal servant of Smautf (also a resident of 11 rue Simon-Crubellier), drawing water from different ports approximately every two weeks for a total of 500 watercolor.
Bartlebooth then sent each painting back to France, where the paper was attached to the support board, and carefully chosen craftsman Gaspard Winckler (also resident of 11 rue Simon-Crubellier) cut him into a jigsaw puzzle. Upon his return, Bartlebooth spends his time completing each jigsaw, recreating the scene.
Each puzzle was completed treated to re-bind the paper with a custom solution created by Georges Morellet, another resident of 11 rue Simon-Crubellier. Once the solution is applied, timber support is removed, and the painting is sent to the port where it is painted. Exactly 20 years into the day after painting, the painting is placed in a detergent solution until the color dissolves, and the paper, empty except for the faint marks in which it is cut and rejoined, is returned to Bartlebooth.
In the end, nothing can be displayed for 50 years of work: the project has absolutely no marks on the world. Unfortunately for Bartlebooth, Winckler's puzzles are becoming increasingly difficult and Bartlebooth himself becomes blind. An art fanatic also intervened in an attempt to stop Bartlebooth from crushing his art. Bartlebooth was forced to change his plans and asked for a watercolor burned in a local stove instead of being sent back to the sea, for fear of those involved in the task of betraying him. In 1975, Bartlebooth was 16 months behind in his plan, and he died when he was about to finish the 439th puzzle. The last hole in the puzzle is in the form of the letter X while the part it holds is a letter W.
Maps Life a User's Manual
Structure
The whole block was mainly presented within the time limit, on June 23, 1975, just before 8 pm, moments after Bartlebooth's death. Nevertheless, the constraint system creates hundreds of separate stories about block residents, past and present, and others in their lives. Bartlebooth's story is the main thread, but relates to many others.
Another key thread is the final project of painter Serge ValÃÆ'¨ne. Bartlebooth hired him as a tutor before starting his tour of the world, and bought himself a flat in the same block where ValÃÆ'¨¨ne lived. He is one of the few painters who have lived in the block during this century. He plans to paint the entire apartment block, visible at altitude with the facade removed, showing all the occupants and details of their lives: ValÃÆ'¨ne, a character in the novel, seeks to create a novel representation as a painting. Chapter 51, falling in the middle of the book, listing all Valè¨ne's ideas, and in the process taking key stories that are seen so far and yet to come.
Both Bartlebooth and ValÃÆ'¨ne fail in their projects: this is a recurring theme in many stories.
Element
Apartment block
One of Perec's old projects is the description of the Paris apartment block because it can be seen if the entire face is removed, showing every room. Perec is obsessed with the list: such descriptions will be complete down to the final details.
Some of these theme precedents can be found in the Spanish novel El Diablo cojuelo (1641, "The Lame Devil" or "The Crippled Devil") by Luis VÃÆ' © lez de Guevara (partly adapted to the 18th century France by Alain-Renà © Lesage in his novel in 1707 Le Diable boiteux, "The Lame Devil" or "The Devil on Two Sticks") and the 20th century Russian novel Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Another notable literary puzzles are Hopscotch (1963) by Argentine novelist Argentine novelist Julio CortÃÆ'¡zar.
While Bartlebooth's puzzle narrative is the main story of this book, 11 rue Simon-Crubellier is the subject of this novel. 11 rue Simon-Crubellier had frozen at the time when Bartlebooth died. People froze in different apartments, on the stairs, and in the basement. Some rooms are empty.
Narration moves like a knight in a game of chess, one chapter for each room (thus, more apartment rooms have more chapters devoted to it). In every room we learn about the occupants of the room, or the residents of the room in the past, or about someone they have contacted.
Many characters in 11 rue Simon-Crubellier, such as Smautf, ValÃÆ'¨ne, Winckler, and Morellet, have direct connections to the Bartlebooth search. So, in the rooms it's a puzzle-Bartlebooth's story tends to be carried further. Many narrations, however, are related to Bartlebooth simply because it deals with the history of 11 rue Simon-Crubellier.
Knight's Tours
The Knight tour as a means of producing novels is an old idea of ​​the Oulipo group. Perec set the building's height as 10 Ã- 10 grid: 10 floors, including basement and attic and 10 rooms across, including two for stairs. Each room is assigned to a chapter, and the chapter sequence is given by the knight movement on the grid. However, since the novel contains only 99 chapters, passing through the basement, Perec extends Bartlebooth's failure theme to the novel structure as well.
This list
The content of the Perec novel is partially generated by 42 lists, each containing 10 elements (eg the "Cain" list contains ten different fabrics). Perec uses Graeco-Latin squares or "bi-squares" to distribute these elements in the 99 chapters of this book. A bi-square is similar to sudoku puzzles, though more complicated, since the two list elements must be distributed across the grid. In the example image, these two lists are the first three letters of the Greek and Latin letters; each cell contains both Greek and Latin characters, and, as in sudoku, each row and grid column also contains each character exactly once. Using the same principle, Perec creates 21 bi-squares, each distributing two lists of 10 elements. This allows Perec to distribute the 42 out of 10 of its element list in 99 chapters. Each cell given on a 10x10 map of an apartment block can be referenced with the same cell on each of the 21 bi-squares, for each chapter a unique list of 42 elements to be mentioned can be produced.
Perec also further split these lists into 10 groups of four (sixth sub-groups, for example, containing a list of "Fabrics", "Colors", "Accessories" and "Gems"), which provide stories-produce additional coating machines of complexity. The elements in Lists 39 and 40 ("Gaps" and "False") are no more than 1-10; if Perec consults with the bi-square "False" and finds, for example, "6" in a given cell, he will make sure that the corresponding chapter of the cell will do something "wrong" when inserting a particular fabric, color, accessory or bi gem squared for list in group 6 has been assigned to the corresponding cell/chapter.
However, other complications stem from the presence of Lists 39 and 40 in the 10th sub-group; Lists 39 and 40 sometimes their own sub-group number as one to be tampered with in the given chapter. According to Perec biographer David Bellos, the self-reflexive aspect of Lists 39 and 40 "allows him to apply 'gaps' in such cases by not losing any other boundaries in the group ('gapping gap' ) or by passing a constraint in group not determined by squared number ('wrong error') or with not getting something wrong at all ('wrong gapping') ". Lists 41 and 42 collectively form ten "pairs" (such as "Pride & amp; Prejudice" and "Laurel & Hardy") excluded from the "Slit" and "False" list interruptions that affect the first 40 lists. It is important to note that Perec himself admits that the list is often just a clue; Certain chapters cover fewer than 42 specified elements.
Appendix
The appendix section in this book contains a chronology of events beginning in 1833, a 70-page index, a list of 100 or more main stories, and a block elevation plan as a 10x10 grid. This index contains the many people, places and artwork mentioned in this book:
- real, like Mozart
- fictitious, like the Jules Verne character, Captain Nemo
- real internally , like Bartlebooth itself
- internally fictitious : characters in stories written by school children, for example
Reception
In The New York Times Book Review, novelist Paul Auster writes, "Georges Perec died in 1982 at the age of 46, leaving behind a dozen books and a brilliant reputation. In the words of Italo Calvino, he is 'one of the most singular literary figures in the world, a writer who resembles no one else.' It took a long time for us to pursue, but now the main job - Life: User Manual (1978) - finally translated into English it is impossible for us to think of contemporary French writing in the same way again. "
In the list of non-technical books he read, computer scientist Donald Knuth refers to this book as "perhaps the greatest novel of the twentieth century."
See also
- Knight Chart
- Le Monde '100 Book of the Century
References
External links
- Paul Auster (1987-11-15). "BOLLEBOOTH FOLLIES". The New York Times . Retrieved 2008-03-24 .
- Reviews
- Search for rue Simon-Crubellier
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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