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The group defines the term 'littérature potentielle' as (rough translation): "the seeking of new structures and patterns which may be used by writers in any way they enjoy".
Constraints are used as a means of triggering ideas and inspiration, most notably Georges Perec's "story-making machine" which he used in the construction of . As well as established techniques, such as lipograms (Perec's novel A Void) and palindromes, the group devises new techniques, often based on mathematical problems such as the Knight's Tour of the chess-board and permutations.
Some examples of Oulipian writing:
Roubaud's La Belle Hortense , a whimsical detective story, in which six princes, all brothers, are suspects. All six appear in turn, in a different sequence each time. One of the six breaks the pattern: this is a clue that he is the culprit. Queneau's Exercices de Style , in which he tells the same simple story ninety-nine times, each in a different style.His Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes ( Hundred Thousand Billion Poems) is inspired by children's picture books in which each page is cut into horizontal strips which can be turned independently, allowing different pictures (usually of people) to be combined in many ways. Queneau applies this technique to poetry: the book contains 10 sonnets, each on a page. Each page is split into 14 strips, one for each line. The author estimates in the introductory explanation that it would take approximately 200 million years to read all possible combinations.
Some Oulipian constraints:
The "S + 7" method: replace every noun in a text with the word that falls 7 places ahead of it in the dictionary. Thus "Call me Ishmael. Some years ago..." (from Moby Dick) becomes "Call me islander. Some yeggs ago...".
The prisoner's constraint (a.k.a the "macao" constraint) consists of writing a text using no letters with legs (i.e., b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, p, q, t, and y are banned).
Snowball: a poem in which each line is a single word, and each successive word is one letter longer.
Oulipo members in 2002. Note that oulipo members are still considered members after their deaths. Dead members are "excused" from the meetings of the group.
Noël Arnaud , Marcel Bénabou , Jacques Bens , Claude Berge , André Blavier , Paul Braffort , Italo CalvinoItalo Calvino ( October 15, 1923 September 19, 1985) was an Italian writer and novelist. Born in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba to botanists Mario Calvino and Evelina Mameli (a descendant of Goffredo Mameli) and brother of Floriano Calvino, a famous geologis, François Caradec , Bernard Cerquiglini , Ross Chambers , Stanley ChapmanBorn in 1925, Stanley Chapman is a British architect, designer, translator and writer. His interests include theatre and pataphysics. He was involved with founding the National Theatre of London, was a member of Oulipo of the year 1960, founder of the Out, Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp ( July 28, 1887 October 2, 1968) was a French/American artist. Armory Show viewing Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 Born Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp in Blainville-Crevon Seine-Maritime in the Haute-Normandie Region of France, he came from, Jacques Duchateau , Luc Etienne , Paul Fournel , Anne Garetta , Michelle Grangaud , Jacques Jouet , Latis , François Le Lionnais , Hervé Le Tellier , Jean Lescure , Harry Mathews , Michèle Métail , Ian Monk , Oskar Pastior , Georges Perec, Raymond Queneau, Jean Queval , Pierre Rosenstiehl , Jacques Roubaud, Olivier Salon , Albert-Marie Schmidt .