Discussion - Week One - Life, A User's Manual - Part One

[Jim]

This discussion covers Part One, p. 3 – 89


At the end of his Preamble, Perec writes:

“From this, one can make a deduction which is certainly the ultimate truth of jigsaw puzzles: despite appearances, puzzling is not a solitary game: every move the puzzler makes, the puzzle-maker has made before; every piece the puzzler picks up, and picks up again, and studies and strokes, every combination he tries, and tries a second time, every blunder and every insight, each hope and each discouragement have all been designed, calculated, and described by the other.”

In Part One, Perec reveals not only the many characters in the building, but their histories, relationships, travels, artwork, furniture, and all kinds of tidbits. It’s early in the book, but are you beginning to see the puzzle?

[Ellen]

I get glimpses but mostly I'm caught up in the details which aren't even all that interesting. Is that the point, that they're so mundane, to keep the focus on the puzzle or am I missing their interest?

[Jim]

Ellie wrote: "I get glimpses but mostly I'm caught up in the details which aren't even all that interesting. Is that the point, that they're so mundane, to keep the focus on the puzzle or am I missing their inte..."

I think it's too soon to answer that question. We'll know what the plan is (if any) after we read Part Two. Then we'll either see a progression or read more of the same.

I was intrigued by the idea of painting 500 watercolors of seaports during 20 years of globe-trotting. An interesting way to spend a life... but not, for everyone!

[MarkB]

I've been marking off each room covered by each chapter in the hopes of seeing a discernible pattern or shape. No luck so far, however.

[Sosen]

@Mark: That's a good idea, but for me it would be to keep track of the residents/tenants and their ways. I'm only on page 30, and I'm already getting confused. I think Perec does that thing where information is revealed casually, as if the reader has already read about it. Although I love that form of exposition, it makes me second-guess myself and think that he DID talk about it, and I just forgot!

This is definitely one of those books where it's good for me to go back and browse the parts I've already read, as often as possible. I don't have a very good memory.

[MarkB]

How true. I'm presently trying to see whether it's worthwhile to keep any track of wall and/or floor coverings which always seem to be prominently mentioned. So many pieces!

[Whitney]

I've read this previously, so don't want to say too much. For those who are Reading Nabokov's Lectures on Literature, the part where he says to make a drawing of the physical layout of a book's action is helpful here. I recommend making a map showing the location of all the rooms.

[Mala]

This is unlike any book I've ever read! So halfway through Book One,I felt the need to look up the Wiki page ( I hope it's not construed as cheating!), cause this is Oulipian writing,hence needs proper orientation so we understand the 'constraints' that Perec chose to impose on his writing– the long lists of objects endlessly recounted as we are taken from one room to another, have a valid purpose here– they establish the scene & also give a glimpse into the world of the people who reside/resided there. We are known by the company we keep,yes? We are also known by the things we choose to surround ourselves with.
Perec was known for his versatile writing & here we get ample proof of that–from sharing recipe of strawberry cream to recounting anecdotes, trivia, real (& false?) information– the stylistic variety is delightful.
The house itself could be a metaphor for the world at large & affords us voyeurs a peek into the lives of its various inhabitants & also the people who were part of their lives,in that sense,the narrative canvas of this novel is huge & it'll be quite a task keeping track of all these characters & working out their network of events & relationships. A huge puzzle indeed!

[Mala]

I'm intrigued by this Winckler character– at the end of chapter1, we read:"Gaspard Winckler is dead, but the long and meticulous, patiently laid plot of his revenge is not finished yet."
Then,like pieces of the puzzles,we are handed some clues:
"Twenty years ago, in 1955, Winckler completed as planned the last of the puzzles Bartlebooth had ordered. There is every reason to suppose that the contract he had signed with the multimillionaire contained a clause stipulating explicitly that he would never make any other puzzles, but in any case it’s likely he didn’t want to."

He then starts creating "Devil's Rings" & "Witches' Mirrors" & tells Valène: “It’s only for me,”(...) “that they’re diabolical. Bartlebooth himself would approve.” It was the only time Valène heard Winckler utter the Englishman’s name."

There's definitely antipathy towards Bartlebooth

Here Winckler almost passes for authorial voice for he is voicing Perec's Oulipian concerns:
"He wanted, so he said, to sort the labels into order, but it was very difficult: of course, there was chronological order, but he found it poor, even poorer than alphabetical order. He had tried by continents, then by country, but that didn’t satisfy him. What he would have liked would be to link each label to the next, but each time in respect of something else: for example, they could have some detail in common, a mountain or volcano, an illuminated bay, some particular flower, the same red and gold edging, the beaming face of a groom, or the same dimensions, or the same typeface, or similar slogans (“Pearl of the Ocean”, “Diamond of the Coast”), or a relationship based not on similarity but on opposition or a fragile, almost arbitrary association: a minute village by an Italian lake followed by the skyscrapers of Manhattan, skiers followed by swimmers, fireworks by candlelit dinner, railway by aeroplane, baccarat table by chemin de fer, etc. It’s not just hard, Winckler added, above all it’s useless: if you leave the labels unsorted and take two at random, you can be sure they’ll have at least three things in common." Chapter 8

[Mala]

Jim wrote:"I was intrigued by the idea of painting 500 watercolors of seaports during 20 years of globe-trotting. An interesting way to spend a life... but not, for everyone! "

Right! Sounds like Ahab's magnificant obsession or Quixote's sublimely ridiculous adventures? But when one has the money to burn & the eccentricities to match it then nothing is impossible!
Thematically,it seems a very strange idea but we'll see.

[MarkB]

Great stuff, Mala. Thanks. Any handles and lifelines that we can make sense of have to be of value for this journey.

[Jim]

Mala is very much on target when mentioning the Oulipo group. At this early point in the book, I'm letting the chapters wash over me, but will likely pull out my math wizard hat at some point to see what kind of pattern(s) might be there.

Another element that comes to mind is Perec's personal story. His father was killed in the war in 1940 when Georges was four years old, and his mother died at Auschwitz three years later. Orphaned at a young age, I imagine Perec may have had a special sensitivity to personal histories and relationships. His eye for the residents of the building is quite penetrating.

[Jim]

Whitney wrote: "I've read this previously, so don't want to say too much. For those who are Reading Nabokov's Lectures on Literature, the part where he says to make a drawing of the physical layout of a book's act..."

My edition came with a map, luckily! Would I need anything more than that?

[Whitney]

Jim wrote: "My edition came with a map, luckily! Would I need anything more than that?..."

Is it numbered in the order the rooms are visited :-)

I'm sure there are things to be discovered by cataloging the contents and location of each apartment, but I was way too lazy to do that - looking forward to what everyone else comes up with!

[Mala]

Mark B wrote: "Great stuff, Mala. Thanks. Any handles and lifelines that we can make sense of have to be of value for this journey."

Thank,Mark. The communal living that this book espouses makes it almost imperative that it be enjoyed as a group read!

[Mala]

Whitney wrote:" I recommend making a map showing the location of all the rooms."

I think I got the idea ;-)

So far Chapter Twenty,Moreau,1 was the only hard one to get through– you know why– that looong product catalogue! I kind of skimmed it,don't know if I missed anything important by doing so.
Two main themes have been introduced– Bartlebooth's crazy adventure/obsession & Winckler's hidden agenda– the third one is only glimpsed tentatively,maybe the idea will be developed later.

[Jenny]

If you want to solve the puzzles, you need to pay careful attention to every item on every list. If you just want to read the interconnected and overlapping stories, you don't need to pay as much attention.

I think it is amazing that the English translation reproduces most of the word play and puzzles from the French edition, they may not be exactly the same but they are still there in the same places.