Oulipian Constraints

       The constraints of Oulipo seems to be directly at odds with the Surrealist emphasis on automatic writing or allowing the language of the subconscious to emerge through the creative process. Whereas the Surrealists break starkly from tradition, the Oulipos seem to reappropriate old forms. If the sonnet stands at odds with the type of poetry generated through automatic writing, then the Oulipian use of the sonnet form makes the old form new by revealing the freedom of restriction.

        Since I’m not a creative writer, the only time I’ve really dealt with constraints or restrictions on a regular basis is with academic writing. We don’t often think of the stylistic conventions of academic writing as being particularly liberating or creatively stimulating, but sometimes I do my best thinking when crafting a formal essay. How might I synthesize a complex idea into a fifteen-page maximum essay? Or how might I challenge myself to expand an idea into an article-length essay? How can I craft an idea in one field that might be of interest to readers across disciplines?

        In my experience writing story variations of this class, I was venturing into completely new territory. Whereas the poetry assignment was challenging, it didn’t feel overwhelming because I had at least some previous experience writing poetry when I was younger. But since I’ve had no experience writing short fiction or creating various plots and scenarios with re-written material, I felt as if I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know if I was doing the assignment in the right way (or even if there was a “right way”). I had to ask myself questions I had never asked before of my own writing (or at least, not in terms of writing short fiction): What exactly is a “linguistic” variation? How does a variation in narrative differ from a variation in genre? Can one story actually contain all three types of variations, and if so, is that allowed? (This might perhaps relate to Le Lionnais’ idea of “levels of constraint.”) After asking these questions and looking at the example from Queneau, I just barreled ahead and gave it my best shot.

        It’s hard for me to answer the question of which movement is more “revolutionary.” When reading the Surrealists, I felt I was encountering literature I had never experienced before. In reading the few Oulipo texts we’re been assigned so far, I feel as if some of these techniques are not as new or as unique as what the Surrealists were doing. Calvino’s novel in particular seemed too close to Hoffmann’s The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr with the idea of a meta-narrative of intertwined stories, complete with printer’s errors, parallel chapters, and shadow characters. The idea of Oulipo writers “embracing” previous writers as those who were Oulipo but just didn’t know it, seems to suggest that they also realized that perhaps their ideas weren’t new, even if they were trying to push boundaries with older traditions.