"Exercices De Style" 1956 QUENEAU, Raymond
$250
QUENEAU, Raymond
[175] pp.
Club des Libraires de France
1956
8" x 5 1/2"
Limited edition copy 4247 of 5000
Fine
Exercises in Style (French: Exercices de style), written by Raymond Queneau, is a 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 recall the famous 33rd chapter of the 1512 rhetorical guide by Desiderius Erasmus, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style.