Raymond Queneau.
Exercises in Style.
New Directions. 2012
On a crowded bus at midday, an unnamed narrator observes a cranky man in an altercation;
later, in another part of town, he sees the same man
being advised by a friend to sew a new button on his overcoat.
Exercises in Style, Queneau’s masterpiece, retells this unexceptional tale in ninety-nine exceptional ways: the sonnet and the alexandrine, onomatopoeia, even Cockney. Celebrating the 65th anniversary of the book’s original French publication, this edition includes many additional exercises by Queneau, newly translated by Chris Clarke and appearing for the first time in English, as well as new homages by contemporary writers.
Translated by Barbara Wright with new exercises translated by Chris Clarke
and exercises in homage to Queneau by Jesse Ball, Blake Butler, Amelia Gray, Shane Jones, Jonathan Lethem, Ben Marcus, Harry Mathews, Lynne Tillman, Frederic Tuten, and Enrique Vila-Matas