Saturday, 6 April 2013

F is for ... FROMAGE OU DESSERT?


So today is the 6th of April, which must mean that it's the sixth 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.



*****

F is for ... FROMAGE OU DESSERT?
"The author's preliminary note: Perhaps, if we gathered together all the interrogative sentences, all the questions asked the world over since the world began, we might in the end get an answer?" 
Oulipo Compendium ed. Harry Matthews & Alastiar Brotchie (London: Atlas Press, 2005) page 80.
*****

This got me thinking about all the questions we ask and whether or not we actually answer them, or just pose more questions.  And this is what I came up with.


What?

Hello?

Hello?

Who’s there?

Who are you?

Who are you?

What are you doing?

Who are you talking to?

Who do you think I’m talking to?

What’s going on?

Where are you?

Can’t you see me?

Did you hear that?

Are you alone?

Are you alright?

Can you move closer?

Can’t you see me yet?

Why is this happening to me?

Why is this happening to me?

Where are you?

Where are you going?

Where are you?

Are you coming towards me?

What is this place?

What happened to you?

How did you get in here?

Are you hurt?

Did you get hurt too?

Where did you get hurt?

Can’t you come over here?

Can’t you walk?

Where is everyone else?

Aren’t they with you?

What’s that noise?

What noise?

Is that you?

Are you by the wall?

What’s that?

What is it?

What’s your name?

Don’t you recognise my voice?

Is anyone coming to help us?

Does anyone know we’re here?

Why didn’t I stay at home today?

Are we going to be ok?

Why can’t I move?

Are you cold?

Can you see anything?

Will somebody come and help us?

Can’t you shout any louder?

What’s that in my hair?

Is it moving?

Can’t you feel it?

What are you talking about?



What are you talking about?



Where have you gone?



Where are you?



What are you doing?



Hello?



Hello?



*****

(Frisky and Mannish have the right idea) -

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

20 comments:

  1. Amy Jarecki6 April 2013 at 14:26

    Frisky and Mannis are great--they are really talented! And I believe I'll have Cheese today ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow6 April 2013 at 14:29

      I love F&M. Everything they do makes me laugh :) If you have cheese, I'll have the dessert. I have a very sweet tooth :D

      Delete
  2. Melody Songtailor6 April 2013 at 16:24

    Oulipo sounds like an interesting concept. Thanks for sharing it with us and giving an example. It sounds like fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow6 April 2013 at 16:29

      Thank you. It certainly gets the old brain box working :D

      Delete
  3. Cheryl6 April 2013 at 17:13

    Great set of posts so far. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kristen6 April 2013 at 20:57

    Where are Frisky and Mannish?

    Where did they go?

    Are they going to be in future posts?

    Does everyone else like them too?

    Do you like my comment?

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow7 April 2013 at 08:33

      Brilliant comment. And to answer your question, no they won't be in any future posts, unfortunately.

      Delete
  5. Tui Snider @mentalmosaic7 April 2013 at 00:19

    I've started looking forward to your posts each day. This Oulipo and the various forms you have here - inspiring!

    While reading today's poem, I envisioned people in a dark, echoing tunnel.

    Tui
    visiting from the #AtoZchallenge
    Twitter: @mentalmosaic
    Blog: http://www.mentalmosaic.com/blog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow7 April 2013 at 08:36

      Thank you so much for your comment :D I'm glad you like my posts. When I wrote this, I had the people in a dark cave, but a tunnel works just as well.

      Delete
  6. Jocelyn Rish7 April 2013 at 02:58

    What an interesting concept! And I never would have believed a story written entirely with questions would work, but that certainly was a chilling little tale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow7 April 2013 at 08:37

      Thank you. It is haunting, and with there only being questions, we don't get any answers, and we don't know what's happened to them. It gets the imagination working.

      Delete
  7. Tex7 April 2013 at 03:58

    OH! Yes, absolutely! Have you seen Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead? This sounds so much like the questions game!

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/y-Sx4W2cKlU

    (Theirs is fun and silly, but I love, love, love how you use yours to get to a place of absolute fear - and without a single extraneous word! I MUST get on this Oulipo ball!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rebeccah Giltrow7 April 2013 at 08:41

      Thank you, and yes, get Oulipo inside your brainbox. You need it in your life!

      That Rosencrants and Guildenstern clip is brilliant. Thank you for sharing :)

      Delete
  8. Unknown7 April 2013 at 22:13

    I just keep coming back to see what's new here. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jak8 April 2013 at 02:38

    I very much liked this and all the videos supplied lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Grover8 April 2013 at 17:53

    I've enjoyed reading your blog posts so far. Great first week to the challenge :)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)