Three Percent #191: Raymond Queneau

To celebrate the first-ever English-language publication of Raymond Queneau’s Sally Mara’s Intimate Journal, and the reissue of Pierrot Mon Ami as a Dalkey Essential, Chris Clarke (whose retranslation of Queneau’s The Skin of Dreams is forthcoming from NYRB) and Daniel Levin Becker (infamous member of Mujeres Encinta, member of the Oulipo, and author of Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature) joined Chad to talk all things Queneau. They discuss the books, the two major divisions of Oulipian writing, the process of retranslation, the joy of reading these books, and much more.

The music on this episode is “À la pêche des cœurs (inédit)” by Queneau’s good friend, Boris Vian.

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