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Life: A User's Manual by George Perec - August BOTM
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Diane
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Jul 25, 2024 09:27AM
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2. Perec is known for his detailed lists and descriptions. How do these contribute to the overall narrative and themes of the book?
3. Many characters in the novel are collectors of various objects. How does this motif of collecting reflect on the characters' lives and their psychological states?
4. How do the individual stories within the apartment building interconnect and influence one another? Provide examples of specific characters whose lives are intertwined.
5. Perec was a member of the Oulipo group, known for using constrained writing techniques. Identify and discuss some of these constraints and how they shape the narrative.
6. Explore the existential themes present in the novel. How do the characters confront issues of meaning, purpose, and mortality?
7. The novel references various works of art and literature. How do these references enrich the text and contribute to its thematic depth?
8. Choose one character from the novel and analyze their development. How does Perec use this character to explore broader themes within the novel?
9. Discuss Perec’s narrative voice and style in the novel. How does his writing style affect your perception of the story and its characters?
10. The novel is often described as a literary puzzle. In what ways does Perec play with the idea of puzzles, both in the structure of the narrative and within the content of the stories?
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2. Perec is known for his detailed lists and descriptions. How do these contribute to the overall narrative and themes of the book? it helps to paint a picture at times, at times, the list could be completely meaningless to me. this from Wiki; "The content of Perec's novel was partly generated by 42 lists, each containing 10 elements (e.g. the "Fabrics" list contains ten different fabrics). Perec used Graeco-Latin squares or "bi-squares" to distribute these elements across the 99 chapters of the book." The lists show materiality and complexity of everyday life and a window to the culture. These lists are ways in which Perec shows everyday life. Something you might find in a manual about life.
3. Many characters in the novel are collectors of various objects. How does this motif of collecting reflect on the characters' lives and their psychological states? Collecting does show what we like, what gets our attention. Again it serves as a parts manual for one's life.
4. How do the individual stories within the apartment building interconnect and influence one another? Provide examples of specific characters whose lives are intertwined. The painting of the watercolors, the production of the jigsaw puzzle and the deconstruction of the puzzle and the watercolor involved three people. Learning to do watercolor from another tenant; Percival Bartlebooth, Serge Valène, and Gaspard Winckler.
5. Perec was a member of the Oulipo group, known for using constrained writing techniques. Identify and discuss some of these constraints and how they shape the narrative. obviously mathematics is a big part. 'Palindromes', 'heterograms', 'lipograms' are some of those radical experiments on the possibilities inherent to an idiom that Perec performed as texts and poems (: Jacques Neefs)
Perec used several constraints and they function discreetly with the minimum of surface disturbance. The movement from square to square uses the knight’s move from chess. This move is one square forward and one square to the diagonal. With it Perec was able to move through the entire grid of 100 squares without repetition. When he arrives at a different room of Rorschach’s apartment, for example, he can select which type of narrative he will use. He can revisit the same apartment as many as six times. https://www.rochester.edu/College/tra...
6. Explore the existential themes present in the novel. How do the characters confront issues of meaning, purpose, and mortality? Passing time is one. Man creating a purpose (making jigsaw puzzles and deconstruction jigsaw puzzles of an exact number) without taking into account aging, accidents, dying. The apartment is another example of passing time; people come, people go, uses change, rooms get bigger, rooms get smaller. Uselessness of human endeavors.
7. The novel references various works of art and literature. How do these references enrich the text and contribute to its thematic depth? I found it helpful to find things I could identify in these arts and literature. It also shows that art and literature have a time and place and some can withstand the test of time but not always.
8. Choose one character from the novel and analyze their development. How does Perec use this character to explore broader themes within the novel? The main character of course is a wealthy man who sets a goal to paint 500 watercolors of harbors, send them back to be made into jigsaw puzzles, when done with that, to return home, put the puzzles together, seal them, send them back to their origin and have them completely deconstructed. In the end, he is holding a puzzle piece (he is blind) and it is the last piece for the puzzle but it is the wrong piece.
9. Discuss Perec’s narrative voice and style in the novel. How does his writing style affect your perception of the story and its characters? it is a puzzle narrative. I knew this was going on but I can't say that I solved any of the puzzles. did you? I think this book could take up a life time of study if one wanted to devote their time to it
10. The novel is often described as a literary puzzle. In what ways does Perec play with the idea of puzzles, both in the structure of the narrative and within the content of the stories? The story is a puzzle about a puzzle and in the end it is not fully or correctly solved. In the end of my reading, I was aware that I missed a whole lot.
1. How does Perec's use of the apartment building as a structural device influence the narrative? Discuss the effectiveness of this structure in telling multiple interconnected stories.Perec was evidently influenced by the Oulipo group that included Italo Calvino and Raymond Queneau. They believed in the concept of limiting the writers choices and constraining their freedoms to force new ways of constructing writing that was not just throwing everything into the mix. Queneau saw his participation in the Surrealist movement as so much "circling around a drain" and wanted to give new breath to writing by actually bringing new structures to it. Perec uses the apartment building and a specific moment in time to create a way of capturing all of life in a specific time and place. It is highly effective as the reader can grasp the limitations; meeting the people, and seeing the apartment rooms, without appearing to be purely abstract constraints. Of course, I came later to see what Perec's self imposed constraints are but by then, I was happy to be part of the puzzle.
2. Perec is known for his detailed lists and descriptions. How do these contribute to the overall narrative and themes of the book?
Lists have become rather ubiquitous in modern novels but Perec uses them particularly to share visuals with the reader. The building is full of stuff and much of the stuff gives the reader stories from the past, or litter and detritus from the past which informs the character's lives, and informs modern life in general. Sometimes the decorations and items trigger a side story that is wonderful and allows us to get out of the building for a moment. The building is absolutely full of stuff which is certainly a commentary on the modern acquiring obsessions, however, I also love the calling out of brands (mostly fictional but not all) and so many of the picture within a picture motifs. In particular, we are allowed to see Valene's paintings which eventually emerge as illustrating what Perec is writing about: the characters in the building. Although it gets no further than a sketch.
3. Many characters in the novel are collectors of various objects. How does this motif of collecting reflect on the characters' lives and their psychological states?
Parallel to question #2; the objects give us insight into the character's current and past lives and their nature. We know for example that Bartlebooth is obsessed with his puzzles but it takes us a moment to understand the background for this obsession. We hear about the former occupant of Bartlebooth's apartment through the story of his Vase, and subsequent swindle. One gets the impression that every single thing in the apartment building has a backstory and that Perec edited it down for our sakes.
4. How do the individual stories within the apartment building interconnect and influence one another? Provide examples of specific characters whose lives are intertwined.
The big one, of course, is Winckler and Bartlebooth but through them we learn of the former tenants Danglers and Jerome. Jerome returns and moves to one of the attic rooms. Smautf works for Bartlebooth and also lives in an attic room. Bartlebooth learns to paint from Valène. Morellet is the chemist that helps Bartlebooth's project. Many of the occupants know of each other because they are long term tenants in the building or because they have seen each other on the stairs.
5. Perec was a member of the Oulipo group, known for using constrained writing techniques. Identify and discuss some of these constraints and how they shape the narrative.
I mentioned this in Question #1. The largest constraint is the building itself. He moved around the building in a prescribed fashion, although I would not have been able to say what exactly that was until the very end. The second constraint is the time of day, although as he talks of tangental stories, backstories and histories we almost don't notice that constraint, again, until the end. Perec also evidently gave himself a number of lists of people and objects that needed to be spread over the chapters in an even way, and this I would not have grasped at all until I read about it after I finished my reading.
However, Perec did allow himself to be the exact opposite of minimalist in his tangental stories, his list of objects and floor and wall covering, his not curtailing the ramblings nor his clear writing style.
6. Explore the existential themes present in the novel. How do the characters confront issues of meaning, purpose, and mortality?
The big one, of course, is failure. Many of our characters fail at the task or the course of projected events that they have set out to accomplish, Valène and Bartlebooth being the two biggest examples. However, even smaller stories such as that of Marcia's son are stories largely of failure or Dr. Dinteville losing his success. On the other hand, the reader is introduced to all manner of people, the starving to those that throw dinner parties based on everything being one color, immigrants and old landed French families, artists, accountants, business men and murderers. Our accountant actually has rather a happy ending. At least they get to keep their furniture. Moreau's life was a huge financial success but we are told that she would have been happier going home and living in the small village where she grew up.
Other themes include betrayal, violence, and another big one is the nature of order versus chaos particularly when it comes to attempting to control things (including puzzles) and failing.
In this way, Perec gives us an overview of life, with its successes and failures but ultimately the real task of life is to work out the puzzle of living.
7. The novel references various works of art and literature. How do these references enrich the text and contribute to its thematic depth?
Many of the references are fictions and he will sometime group them with real people. I attempted looking up a number of the paintings and could not find any reference to the artist at all. Of course, there is Mozart, and Picasso and TinTin and Jules Verne. The mix gives us rich layers of associations, some new and some from the readers own memory to add to Perec's apartment building world.
8. Choose one character from the novel and analyze their development. How does Perec use this character to explore broader themes within the novel?
Hutting is an interesting character because he is an attic artist who has found great financial success and who comes to his painting using a "recipe". Perec treats him with light satire and scorn where he usually treated his character with tolerance. I think that Hutting is somewhat of a reflection of Perec himself. Someone who comes up with an elaborate puzzle on which to base his art. The "Tuesday" club could reflect the meetings of the Oulipo group. Hutting ends up painting Eurydice after she leaves the frame....foreshadowing the end of Perec's novel perhaps?
9. Discuss Perec’s narrative voice and style in the novel. How does his writing style affect your perception of the story and its characters?
When Perec is writing stories, the writing style is charming, open, clever and easy to read which allowed me to appreciate the whole book. His characters, even those who are betrayers and/or murderers usually have some positive cast to them. Perec seems to largely like all his characters even if the ultimate endings are often very sad.
10. The novel is often described as a literary puzzle. In what ways does Perec play with the idea of puzzles, both in the structure of the narrative and within the content of the stories.
The whole book is a bit of a puzzle. One of the major story lines is creating and then destroying that which was created and then failing even to do that. The movement around the building is a constraint based on chess. There are many references to poker and go and other games. When building a puzzle one gets a sense of satisfaction from putting the pieces together and the book reflects this aspect of doing puzzles as some of the stories intertwine. On the other hand, as Kristel mentioned above, I feel as if I would have to reread this to put this puzzle together. I had a wonderfully whole reading, but not a wonderfully whole understanding.
1. This is one occasion when reading on Internet Archve was a distinct disadvantage. I could have realised the structure better if I had read the Appendices first, but it is ponderous to flick through online. and so. although I understood the idea that Perec was jumping around different apartments I did not realise until I finally got to the Appendices, which were an abrupt shock, because I was expecting another 80 odd pages of the story, that the apartments were conceived on a 10x10 grid, that each room was only visited once. and that Perec moved from apartment to apartment as a knight would move in a chess game. Each room is described in great detail, with lists of what it contains. the backstory of the inhabitants. some wonderful anecdotes and the feeling that life is a giant puzzle. The building is a metaphor for the interconnectedness, or not, of people living in close proximity. I often lost track of who was who, and, again, having the index handy to refresh my memory about various characters, and the helpful list of all the stories in the Appendices would have helped my understanding. Nevertheless, I so enjoyed the setting. I, too, live in an apartment building, and I have just completed a curating of my possessions occasioned by installing new carpet, so it was a construct close to my heart.2. The very detailed lists, which Perec employs give the reader almost too much information about the inhabitants. He imposed the number of 40 lists on himself, and then inserted them by some predetermined pattern which I don't understand. But I loved the lists. Oe has to slow down to read them carefully and their orderliness or chaos is a reflection on life itself.
3. I collect things too. They are memories of places I've been and people I've known. As I age, they help me preserve connections to the past and I relinquish them reluctantly. I like to think I am not as obsessive as some of the collectors in this novel! The ultimate collector is Bartlebooth, with his collection of watercolours which he painted, had turned into jigsaw puzzles (all 500 of them) and then returned to the places they were painted to be erased. What a metaphor for our obsessions and their ultimate meaninglessness.4. Bartlebooth is the main connector, using Winckler to turn his paintings into jigsaw puzzles. He learned to paint from Valene, who decides to paint a depiction of the whole building, somewhat like Perec's enterprise. Smautf is Bartlebooth's servant.
5. OULIPO was a group who encouraged each other to write with constraints. Another member was Italo Calvino, whose abrupt shift from one story to another in "If on a winter's night a traveller...." reminds me of this book. Both are consummate story tellers who interrupt their stories to remind the reader how clever they are. The 10x10 structure of the building, and the jump from one room to another creates a sense of interconnectness, but also of disjunction. maybe, as I have suggested earlier, because I didn't access the Appendices until I had finished the book.
6. The themes of finding meaning and the contrast of order and chaos are accentuated by the lists of possessions. These possessions symbolise the human need to find meaning in lives which are inherently meaningless. The inevitability of death and the transience of relationships and possessions are portrayed in the individual stories, which so often end tragically.
7. Perec's use of real works of art and literature mixed up with ones he just made up, keep the reader vigilant. There are many references which I missed, I am sure, but Proust, and the idea of memory is mentioned more than once. Bach"s Goldberg Variations, which is known for its complicated structure may have been an inspiration for the book's structure, and Marcel Dupont, whose lavatory raised the mundane to art is also mentioned and is pertinent to the themes.8. The character Roger Lempereur stands out. He researched his grandfather's studies and presented them for publication. When he was rejected he pursued it no further, but the person responsible for his rejection used his material, almost without acknowledgement, to great acclaim. to which Lempereur was oblivious.
9. Perec write beautifully, and his stories captivate the reader. His shift from one room to another can be maddening for the reader, who is fully immersed in one story and then is transported to another, without being sure of the connection - so the whole is a puzzle. In retrospect the whole is clever, wildly imaginative and satisfying, but the actual reading is somewhat of a challenge.
I really enjoyed this book. I love puzzles and the searching out of details in them, so this made this fun for me although I can see why it might be slow going for some!2. I wrote about the use of details in my review: Fixtures, wall hangings, furnishings, collections - an absolute profusion of exquisite detail to luxuriate in from the first room. The building is a minutely appointed and described miniature, stuffed not just with things as it unfolds but with stories - tall tales, adventure stories, romances - and real lives, struggling along, winding down, completed with failures and disappointments, and a new generation beginning with various anxieties and ambitions. For anyone who loves jigsaw puzzles or dolls houses, the searching for patterns, the joy of tiny details, this book is a lovely layering on, building up the whole complexity of the whole building, all its ramifications forwards and back in time.
5. I was very interested to read about the way Perec used lists and structure to constrain the writing and choosing of details for himself. It made sense to me because life is infinitely variable and so anything really could be put into the rooms, the fun is to create stories that connect with whatever you draw randomly.
6. The central figure has a project to live a life of creation and destruction that leaves no mark on the world, but pretty much no one in this building achieves their ambitions (illustrated too by the author giving us just 99 of the 100 rooms in the building). I'm not sure there is anyone with a sense of satisfaction, except one father in a photo showing off his new born. So the answer to the meaning of life is perhaps in the title - use it.
