Saturday 27 April 2013

X is for ... X MISTAKES Y FOR Z


So today is the 27th of April, which must mean that it's the twenty-fourth day of the A to Z challenge.  I've decided to share my love of writing through this challenge, and hopefully introduce people to the world of Oulipo.  I first heard about Oulipo when I was at university, and I was fascinated by their approach to writing that I decided to delve deeper into the world of experimental writing.

In a nutshell, this group of writers likes to assign constraints to their work in order to push creative boundaries.  Not only is this fun to do (the process of writing something with a constraint really does open the mind), the results are brilliant.



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X is for ... X MISTAKES Y FOR Z


"The relation x mistakes y for z was conceived by Raymond Queneau as a way of representing the way that several characters perceive each other (and themselves) in a given situation.  The relation is presented in the form of a multiplication table: a x = a signifies 'a takes himself to be a'; x x y = z signifies 'x mistakes y for z'."
Oulipo Compendium ed. Harry Matthews & Alastiar Brotchie (London: Atlas Press, 2005) page 247.
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Yes, I am as confused as you are.  I have to apologise for this entry, but 'x mistakes y for z' was the only Oulipian constraint I could find beginning with X.  I've looked over this a good handful of times and it still hasn't become any clearer.  The examples in the Oulipo Compendium aren't much help either.  Maybe you can get your head around it!  I don't know whether or not it's just too mathematical for me, or I'm just being a bit thick!




Harry Mathew's example comes with a piece of text for clarification.

"Napoleon falls in love with the wife of the man who thinks he is Napoleon.  The wife has always believed that her husband was Napoleon and therefore that she was Napoleon's wife, a situation she is determined to maintain, even if it means changing Napoleons.  The one constant is the wife, since Napoleon considers her his, and the other man believes her to be Napoleon's wife."  (Oulipo Compendium, page 247)

*brain explodes*

If you haven't gone all cross-eyed, I'll give you one last example for your brain to wrap itself around!

"Xavier loves Yolanda but is sure that Yolanda and Zita love each other.  Yolanda actually does love Zita but fears that Zita has a yen for Xavier, who she is convinced can never love anyone but himself.  It is Zita, however, who is content with being entirely self-centred; she also knows that Xavier loves Yolanda, believing furthermore that Yolanda loves Xavier."  (Oulipo Compendium, page 248)

7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Yep, me too! I didn't want to use this but there were no other constraints that I could find that began with X.

      *cries*

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  2. Gosh! What was that??? I am confused... lemme read it again...

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    Replies
    1. No, please don't read it again. I don't want to be responsible for your brain exploding :(

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  3. I totally get this (if I"m not over-simplifying). People often misunderstand others or project feelings/ideas that aren't really there. Plus, people can discuss the same things while having totally different agendas. I try to do this with my characters' dialog, but betas generally go, "Why are they talking at cross purposes?" Because it's realistic. *sigh*
    Fun post! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'm glad someone understands this. I think I'm just good at over-complicating things!!

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  4. I'm great at math, but the extension to writing is odd. I actually get it, but the last example confuses things more because the xyzs represent relationships and preferences rather who each person believes the other people are (that's why the intersection of x and y don't line up... only z, because that person is self-centered).

    Anyway, I don't know if I can apply this to my comment, but I'll just say that if I'm x, you're y, and this blog is z, then here is the table:

    x y z
    x x y -
    y x y -
    z - - -

    As in, we all know who we are, except the blog. The blog is not self-aware! :)

    If we're talking relationships, then:

    x y z
    x z z -
    y z x -
    z - - -

    I love your blog, and I believe you love your blog as well. By now, you know that I love your blog. You've said you like my posts, so although you don't know me personally, I'll just say you like me for my posts. :) We both know that the blog feels nothing, because it is not self-aware, which is true.

    I hope I didn't confuse you too much!! :)

    #atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com

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