Georges Perec: Traces of His Passage

This critical study–the first in English on Georges Perec–presents in chronological order the entire spectrum of Perec’s writings from Les Choses (1965) to La Vie mode d’emploi (1978). Although his early works linked him indirectly with the Nouveau Roman and its structural experimentation, Perec does not fit any preordained style of narrative composition. He is perhaps best known for his stylistic tours de La Disparition (1969) is an entire novel written without using any word that contains the letter ‘e’; in Les Revenentes (1972), the only vowel that appears in the novel is ‘e’! In this critical study, Professor Schwartz also offers close readings of three autobiographical W ou le souvenir d’enfance (1975); La Boutique obscure (1973); and Especes d’espaces (1974). Struck down at the age of 45 by lung cancer, Perec’s all too brief life parallels that of Boris Vian in its anti-conventional approach to literature and structural innovations.