Exercises in Style
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"BUS BONDÉ STOP JNHOMME LONG COU CHAPEAU CERCLE TRESSÉ APOSTROPHE VOYAGEUR INCONNU SANS PRÉTEXTE VALABLE STOP QUESTION DOIGTS PIEDS FROISSÉS CONTACT TALON PRÉTENDU VOLONTAIRE STOP JNHOMME ABANDONNE DISCUSSION POUR PLACE LIBRE STOP QUATORZE HEURES PLACE ROME JNHOMME ÉCOUTE CONSEILS VESTIMENTAIRES CAMARADE STOP DÉPLACER BOUTON STOP SIGNÉ ARCTURUS." --telegraphic style from Exercises in Style (1947) by Raymond Queneau |
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Exercises in Style, written by Raymond Queneau (in French, the original title is Exercices de style) is a 1947 collection of 99 retellings of the same story, each in a different style. In each, the narrator gets on the "S" bus (now no. 84), witnesses an altercation between a man (a zazou) with a long neck and funny hat and another passenger, and then sees the same person two hours later at the Gare St.-Lazare getting advice on adding a button to his overcoat.
The literary variations on a theme recall the famous 33rd chapter of the 1512 rhetorical guide by Desiderius Erasmus, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, which includes more than 150 variations on the simple sentence (in Latin), "Your letter pleased me greatly."
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Translations
The book was translated into English by Barbara Wright in 1958, into Italian by Umberto Eco, into Serbian by Danilo Kiš, into Dutch by Rudy Kousbroek, into Norwegian by Ragnar Hovland, into German by Ludwig Harig and Eugen Helmlé, into Greek by Achilleas Kyriakides, into Czech by Patrik Ouředník, into Turkish by Armagan Ekici in 2003 and into Polish by Jan Gondowicz in 2005. Because, by their nature, the various retellings of the story employ fine subtleties of the French language, translations into these other languages are adaptations as well as being translations.
Graphic novel
A homage in graphic novel form, 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden, was published in 2005.
Translations
The book has been translated into the following languages :
- English by Barbara Wright (1958)
- Italian by Umberto Eco (1983)
- Serbian by Danilo Kiš
- Dutch by Rudy Kousbroek
- Norwegian by Ragnar Hovland
- Esperanto by István Ertl (1986)
- Finnish by Pentti Salmenranta (1991)
- German by Ludwig Harig and Eugen Helmlé
- Greek by Achilleas Kyriakides
- Czech by Patrik Ouředník
- Bulgarian by Vasil Sotirov and Elena Tomalevska
- Turkish by Armağan Ekici (2003)
- Pashtu language by Victor Monchego, Jr (2009 in progress)
- Polish by Jan Gondowicz
- Macedonian by Elizabeta Trpkovska (2005)
- Basque by Xabier Olarra (2006)
- Estonian by Triinu Tamm and Jana Porila (2007)
- Swedish by Lars Hagström
- Danish by Otto Jul Pedersen (1994)
- Russian by V.A.Petrov ed. (1998)
- Slovene by Aleš Berger (1994)
- Romanian by Călin Vlasie ed. (2006)
- Galician by H.H. Banet and X.M.P.Varela (1995)
- Portuguese by H.A. Medeiros et al. (2000)
- Japanese by Koji Asahima.
- Spanish by Antonio Fernández Ferrer.
Because, by their nature, the various retellings of the story employ fine subtleties of the French language, translations into these other languages are adaptations as well as being translations.
Styles employed
The English translation by Barbara Wright (reprinted in paperback in 1981) consists of the tale retold in the following 'styles', where the original has been adapted (rather than translated) the original title is given in italics following :-
Other adaptations
An homage in graphic novel form, 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden, was published in 2005.
A story (An Exercise in Style [1]) written in 2008 by popular blogger Obi Okorougo was inspired and dedicated to Raymond Queneau.
See also
- Oulipo
- Gare Saint-Lazare
- Bobigny – Pantin – Raymond Queneau (Paris Métro)
- Barbara Wright (translator)
- Zazou
- Luminița Gheorghiu
- Matt Madden
- Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style
- 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style
- Robert Massin
- Rudy Kousbroek*
- Jacques Boudet
- Danièle Lebrun
- Pero Kvrgić
- Tomislav Radić
