{"product_id":"the-politics-of-play-oulipo-and-the-legacy-of-french-literary-ludics-paperback-softback-9780810149274","title":"The Politics of Play; Oulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics (Paperback \/ softback) 9780810149274","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Politics of Play\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eOulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAubrey Gabel (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780810149274, Northwestern University Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 15 October 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e360 pages, 9 b\u0026amp;w halftones\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.508 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“Written in an engaging and readable style, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003ePolitics of Play \u003c\/i\u003eis thoughtful, well informed, and a vital contribution to twentieth-century French studies.” —Alison James, University of Chicago \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “Aubrey Gabel's wide-ranging and erudite book shows the many ways in which writers in the Oulipo used lexical games, humorous constraints, and linguistic acrobatics as playful veils for their subtle politics. The Politics of Play offers important historical contextualization for a literary collective not usually associated with political fervor, giving readers a more complex sense of the group’s self-understanding and self-fashioning.” —Christy Wampole, Princeton University\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eShowing the political importance of play in postwar French literature\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In postwar France, authors approached writing ludically, placing rules and conditions on language and on the context of composition itself. They eliminated “e’s” and feminized texts; they traveled according to strict rules and invented outright silly public personas. \u003ci\u003eThe Politics of Play: Oulipo and the Legacy of French Literary Ludics \u003c\/i\u003eis a comprehensive examination of how and why French authors turned to these ludic methods to grapple with their political moment. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e These writers were responding to a range of historical upheavals, from the rise and fall of French feminist and Third-Worldist groups to the aftermath of international socialism both at home, in the former Parisian Belt and in France more broadly, and abroad, in post-Yugoslavia Balkan states and elsewhere. Juxtaposing an array of case studies and drawing on cross-disciplinary methodologies, Aubrey Gabel reads three generations of the formalist literary group Oulipo, including Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, and Jacques Jouet, alongside writers not traditionally deemed ludic—or sometimes not even conventionally known as novelists—such as the lesbian activist-writer Monique Wittig and the editor FranÇois Maspero. Gabel argues that literary ludics serve as both an authorial strategy and a political form: playful methods allow writers not only to represent history in code but also to intervene creatively—as political actors—in the fraught social fields of postwar France.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction \u003cbr\u003e PART I: Ludics Against Commitment \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Deflection Strategy: Oulipo’\u003cbr\u003es Open Secrecy and \u003ci\u003eDÉ\u003cbr\u003egagement\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Coded Speech: Perec’\u003cbr\u003es \u003ci\u003eLa Disparition \u003c\/i\u003eand Narrating Contemporary Histories \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Invasive Procedures: Monique Wittig’\u003cbr\u003es Radical Literary Materialism \u003cbr\u003e PART II: Ludics After Communism \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Worksite Poetics: Jacques Jouet’\u003cbr\u003es Communist Convalescence \u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Amateur Encounters: FranÇ\u003cbr\u003eois Maspero’\u003cbr\u003es Ex-Communist Novel-Travelogues \u003cbr\u003e Coda: MichÈ\u003cbr\u003ele Audin and the Women Writing After Oulipo \u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments \u003cbr\u003e Endnotes \u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Northwestern University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52676788486424,"sku":"9780810149274","price":25.77,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-politics-of-play-oulipo-and-the-legacy-of-french-literary-ludics-paperback-softback-9780810149274","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}