Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
Thanks to Leona King for this re-view:
I’m not sure where I heard about Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau (translated by Barbara Wright) but it sounded so quirky I had to read it. From my previous experience in the insurance industry it was a well known fact that if you placed four people on each corner of an intersection, presented an automobile accident at that intersection, then interviewed each of the four witnesses, you would hear four variations of that incident. Thus the premise of Exercises in Style. A very brief story of a minor confrontation on a Paris bus is interpreted by 99 different observers. It is witty and never boring and for writers an excellent exploration into the use of lanuage. You might even say it compares to The Elements of Style in a very odd but entertaining way. On first glance it seems simple and light-hearted. Serious study reveals exercises in grammer, character sketches, poetry, use of language, point of view, and the list goes on. Do have fun with this rather obscure little item.
Execises in Style
by Raymond Queneau
Published by New Directions Press, 1981, re-release by Calder Publications, Mar. 2008
(originally published in French in 1947)
