The Oulipo Compendium, compiled by Harry Matthews and Alastair Brotchie, is in effect a dictionary/encyclopaedia of Oulipo. As such it is both comprehensive and easy to navigate. Oulipo is the use of restrictions (constraints) in writing. For example, writing a text in which every word starts with the same letter (a technique known as “autogram”). The point is to see what potential such constraints might have for creating literature. Contrary to what you might expect, applying such constraints tends to lead to more creativity rather than less.
The Compendium opens with Raymond Queneau’s 100 billion poems. This is a collection of ten sonnets. Originally, they were printed in such a way that you could mix up the lines from all the poems in order to create new ones -- a 100 billion sonnets to be more precise. According to the Compendium,
“Queneau calculated that someone reading the book 24 hours a day would need 190,258,751 years to complete it.”
This is a great way of starting the book because it gives you a flavour of what’s to come. However, apart from the additional sections (more of which in a moment), the book is probably more useful to those who already know a bit about Oulipo and want a reference book. If you are new to the subject, it’s not an easy read, because there is no obvious starting point. A better book from this point of view is the Penguin Book of Oulipo. In my opinion that provides a better introduction, but is not as detailed as the Compendium. I would say that the two books together complement each other.
On the subject of the detail, it is impressive. There are long examples of Oulipian work, and plenty of cross-referencing. As an example, I am currently interested in the application of computing to Oulipo, and I found a great deal of useful information in this book in under three minutes.
Following the main part of the book are additional sections introducing a few variations of Oulipo. One of these, for example, is Oupeinpo, inn which the principles of Oulipo are applied to art. Looking back on my school life, I wonder if my art teacher was aware of this movement when he set us work in which we could use only one colour, such as blue or yellow. Painting a landscape or, if you are a masochist, a crowd scene, using only different shades of blue is quite a challenge!
Another section is dedicated to the Oulipopo, or detective fiction, while another focuses on the Oulibapo, or comic strips.
Highly recommended.
From the back cover:
The Oulipo Compendium abounds in material for writers, teachers and scholars; it also offers a cornucopia of entertainment for curious readers.