Thanks for that. You may be interested to know I moderate an international reading group on "Life A User's Guide." We have been getting ready to read for several months, studying the constraints, and we are just now starting. We will check every constraint, and read all the literature, including many of the translations (at the moment we have members who have the Korean, Russian, and German translations). I estimate we'll read a chapter every couple of weeks, and finish in four years or so. You (and anyone who sees this!) are entirely welcome to join.
One thing that reading this slowly shows is that the biographical readings of Perec, which trace the central motifs of his works back to his life and ultimately to the Holocaust, work for only a few of his books. After reading your post on "A Void" I was surprised that you didn't pursue that question with Bellos in regard to "Life A User's Guide," especially because he has an interesting interpretation of Bartlebooth's own life: it wasn't a failure, he says, except in a technical sense, and it could be counted in many ways as a success. In the end the last puzzle doesn't work, but "writing succeeds," and Bartlebook was largely successful in his "art of living." But on the other hand, there's Harry Mathews's unforgettable verdict, that Perec "had a wonderful laugh, so full of despair."
Thanks for that. You may be interested to know I moderate an international reading group on "Life A User's Guide." We have been getting ready to read for several months, studying the constraints, and we are just now starting. We will check every constraint, and read all the literature, including many of the translations (at the moment we have members who have the Korean, Russian, and German translations). I estimate we'll read a chapter every couple of weeks, and finish in four years or so. You (and anyone who sees this!) are entirely welcome to join.
One thing that reading this slowly shows is that the biographical readings of Perec, which trace the central motifs of his works back to his life and ultimately to the Holocaust, work for only a few of his books. After reading your post on "A Void" I was surprised that you didn't pursue that question with Bellos in regard to "Life A User's Guide," especially because he has an interesting interpretation of Bartlebooth's own life: it wasn't a failure, he says, except in a technical sense, and it could be counted in many ways as a success. In the end the last puzzle doesn't work, but "writing succeeds," and Bartlebook was largely successful in his "art of living." But on the other hand, there's Harry Mathews's unforgettable verdict, that Perec "had a wonderful laugh, so full of despair."
This is crazy good! Thanks for that a lot!