Exercises in Style
1947 hardback edition
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| Author | Raymond Queneau |
|---|---|
| Original title | Exercices de style |
| Translator | Barbara Wright (English) |
| Illustrator | Mario Prassinos |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Constrained writing, Fiction |
| Publisher | Gallimard |
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Publication date
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1947 |
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Published in English
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1958 |
| Media type | |
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.
The book has been translated into the following languages :
Because, by their nature, the various retellings of the story employ fine subtleties of the French language, translations into these other languages are adaptations as well as being translations.
The English translation by Barbara Wright (reprinted in paperback in 1981) consists of the tale retold in the following 'styles', where the original has been adapted (rather than translated) the original title is given in italics following :-
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