The novel abound in neologisms, wordlplay and ripping humor. It does lack soul and the reader my find a dearth of sympathy for most of the characters as well as the erudition towards literary lunatics. ( )

This might not be easy. Queneau of course one of the founders of Oulipo (other members include Georges Perec: Italo Calvino) who Perec dedicated 'Life: A user's manual' to.

One of the things I liked best about this hilarious novel was the insertion of (and excerpts taken from) all the 19th century French 'literary lunatics'. As it happens these people really existed and to be included in the text of this novel they had to meet some very stringent criteria. It also posed a hell of a challenge for the translator who had to dig around in some very dusty archives at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. This is all so just one of the characters a professor and would be author himself can write a book--a kind of compendium about these literary madmen and their deranged ideas. So the translator not only had the job of translating Queneau's work but also to find and translate all these others intent on squaring circles and reaching the stars or even the sun. Anyway that is one thread that goes back and forth between 3 sets of people who occasionally interconnect with each other. As bizarre as this might seem it is written in Queneau's light and satiric style and in a very engaging manner and he's able to seamlessly fit these threads together when those occasions arise. Originally published before World War II this book also gives us a fairly rounded portrait of French society leading into that conflict for instance in the fascistic political opportunism of one set of those characters. It even throws in a blackmailing demon who comes to a very surprising end. And finally last but not least Queneau himself will step onstage.

Without a doubt my favorite novel of his--a very entertaining work. ( )

843.914 QUE