The Penguin Book of Oulipo

Reviews / Votes

A superb selection ... Lovers of word games and literary puzzles will relish this indispensable anthology celebrating Perec, Calvino and many others ... Terry's anthology connects us to a wider world of Oulipian wordplay, and beyond. -- Tony White * The Guardian * There is real gold in Terry's selection ... the perfect illustration of the Oulipian balancing act of producing writing that is both wry and moving at the same time. -- Dennis Duncan * Literary Review * At times, you simply have to stand back in amazement ... Philip Terry - himself a fine formalist poet and a distinguished translator of Oulipo - has put together as good a tasting menu as any. The 100 examples of Oulipian and relatedly formalist work here maintain an almost uniform virtuosic ingenuity, and reward reading, even en masse. -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph * Magnificent ... Terry's introduction pays witty homage to Oulipians' obsession with order, for it offers an A-Z guide to the movement's major writers and formulae. -- Mark Ford * Times Literary Supplement * Philip Terry's collection is packed with fabulous, wide-ranging work thatdisplays the full ingenuity, brio and originality of Oulipian ideals in action. An exhilarating feat of in-depth reading, and translating, it takes its place as the definitive anthology in English for decades to come. -- Marina Warner Philip Terry's rich anthology of Oulipo writings from Rabelais to Perec [is] a salutary reminder that laughter and linguistic dexterity are as much part of what it means to be human as violence and greed. -- Gabriel Josipovici * Times Literary Supplement * A wonderful anthology. -- Michele Metail Indispensible, informative and playful ... no two pages are alike, and every page is quite unlike anything else you've ever read. -- Andy Brown * Stride Magazine *