Raymond Queneau

Author profile

born

February 21, 1903 in Le Havre, France

died

October 25, 1976

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Queneau was born in Le Havre in 1903 and went to Paris when he was 17. For some time he joined André Breton's Surrealist group, but after only a brief stint he dissociated himself. Now, seeing Queneau's work in retrospect, it seems inevitable. The Surrealists tried to achieve a sort of pure expression from the unconscious, without mediation of the author's self-aware "persona." Queneau's texts, on the contrary, are quite deliberate products of the author's conscious mind, of his memory, his intentionality.
Although Queneau's novels give an impression of enormous spontaneity, they were in fact painstakingly conceived in every small detail. He even once remarked that he simply could not leave to hazard the task of determining the number of cha...more

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Books by Raymond Queneau

Average rating: 3.98 · 5,126 ratings · 496 reviews · 67 distinct works

	Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator) 4.10 avg rating — 1,431 ratings — published 1947 — 49 editions	My rating:
	Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator), Gilbert Adair (Introduction) 3.82 avg rating — 1,086 ratings — published 1959 — 35 editions	My rating:
	The Blue Flowers by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator) 4.00 avg rating — 354 ratings — published 1965 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Pierrot Mon Ami by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator), Inez Hedges (Afterword) 3.99 avg rating — 145 ratings — published 1943 — 9 editions	My rating:
	We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator), John Updike (Introduction) 3.69 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 1947 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Witch Grass by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator) 4.00 avg rating — 135 ratings — published 1933 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Flight of Icarus by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator) 4.08 avg rating — 108 ratings — published 1968 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Last Days by Raymond Queneau, Barbara Wright (Translator), Vivian Kogan (Foreword by) 3.86 avg rating — 88 ratings — published 1937 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Odile by Raymond Queneau, Carol Sanders (Translator) 3.81 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 1937 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Sunday of Life 3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1952 — 11 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Raymond Queneau

“Being or nothing, that is the question. Ascending, descending, coming, going, a man does so much that in the end he disappears.”
― Raymond Queneau, Zazie in the Metro

10 people liked it

“La vie? Un rien l'amène, un rien l'anime, un rien la mine, un rien l'emmène.”
― Raymond Queneau

7 people liked it

“He sought an adventure but didn't find one. He was inexperienced and besides he didn't have too much imagination.”
― Raymond Queneau

tags: adventure , boring , imagination

2 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Raymond Queneau

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Raymond Queneau

Quotes by Raymond Queneau

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Raymond Queneau