Bookworm
Ian Monk
Writings for the Oulipo (Make Now Press); translator of New Impressions of Africa by Raymond Roussel (Atlas) Oulipo is the school of literature that uses linguistic constraints to create a new, playful way of writing. Some members of Oulipo restrict the number of vowels used; some never use the same word twice (quite a feat!). Here, Ian Monk, one of the two members of the Oulipo who write in English, discusses some of the unusual ground rules that generate his poems and stories.
By Michael Silverblatt • • 30m ListenWritings for the Oulipo (Make Now Press); translator of
New Impressions of Africa by Raymond Roussel (Atlas)
Oulipo is the school of literature that uses linguistic constraints to create a new, playful way of writing. Some members of Oulipo restrict the number of vowels used; some never use the same word twice (quite a feat!). Here, Ian Monk, one of the two members of the Oulipo who write in English, discusses some of the unusual ground rules that generate his poems and stories.
Read an excerpt from Monk's Writings for the Oulipo or from Roussel's New Impressions of Africa.