A Disinterested Interest: Oulipo Facing China¹

1 This article benefitted from the conversational feedback provided by Anthropic’s Claude-2-100k AI assistant to enhance readability and refine language usage.

Abstract

This article aims to reveal and examine Oulipo’s engagement with China. While individual members like Michèle Métail and Raymond Queneau have seemingly contributed to the group’s affinity for China on a superficial level, a deeper analysis of the two Oulipism tendencies suggests this interest is fundamentally impersonal and detached. The essence of Oulipism means the group can never be fascinated by any single influence, even while remaining open to Chinese inspiration. Thus, Oulipo harbors what can be characterized as a disinterested interest in China—intrigued by its potential without becoming enthralled by it.

Keywords:

• Oulipo
• China
• Michèle Métail
• Raymond Queneau
• plagiarism by anticipation
• constraint

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article benefitted from the conversational feedback provided by Anthropic’s Claude-2-100k AI assistant to enhance readability and refine language usage.

2 The journal Formules, which specializes in “littératures à contraintes,” provides a useful definition of constraint: “Nous appellerons contraintes les prescriptions textuelles (explicites, ou pouvant être explicitées) peu canoniques, souvent très contraignantes mais toujours totalement obligatoires, que l’on emploie systématiquement lors de la rédaction et/ou de la lecture d’un texte donné” (“Éditorial” 2001, 7).

3 According to the minutes of the group’s monthly meetings from 1960 to 2010, Métail first mentioned Chinese forms on March 12, 1982 (Archives de l’Oulipo, 11), calling it a “passionate discovery” deserving development. Over ensuing years, she persistently introduced new findings on Chinese palindrome poems and rebus forms at meetings during November 1985 (11), March (3), June (3) and October 1989 (2), and February 1990 (16–17).

4 In Le Premier Manifeste, François Le Lionnais (1987, IV) enumerates various “constraints:” “Contraintes du vocabulaire et de la grammaire, contraintes des règles du roman… ou de la tragédie classique… contraintes de la versification générale, contraintes des formes fixes (comme dans le cas du sonnet…), etc.”

5 In her doctoral dissertation, Ji Jing 吉晶 (2014) provides a detailed summary of Queneau’s connections with China.

6 This is attested by the prière d’insérer for the Gallimard edition of Les Fleurs bleues: “On connaît le célèbre apologue chinois : Tchouang-tseu rêve qu’il est un papillon, mais n’est-ce point le papillon qui rêve qu’il est Tchouang-tseu ? De même dans ce roman, est-ce le duc d’Auge qui rêve qu’il est Cidrolin ou Cidrolin qui rêve qu’il est le duc d’Auge.”

7 Thanks to the decipherment work of Queneau researchers, it is now understood that the composition of this work is linked to Queneau’s reading of the Chinese classic Yijing 易经, particularly its hexagrams or “koua” (gua 卦) (Yvan Daniel 2011, 206–16).

8 “D’abord trois fois trois plus un groupe substantif plus adjectif (ou participe) avec quelques répétions, rimes, allitérations, échos ad libitum ; puis une sorte d’interludes de sept vers de une à cinq syllabes ; enfin une conclusion de trois plus un groupe substantif plus adjectif reprenant plus ou moins quelques-uns des vingt-quatre mots utilisés dans la première partie” (Fournel and Audin 2014, 162).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yuhua Xia

Yuhua Xia is a PhD candidate in Translation Studies at Inalco. His research focuses primarily on literary translation and translated literature in modern and contemporary China as well as Oulipo.