On Thursday 26th February, the Eunoia Society gathered for a talk from Dr Julian Moyle on Writing with Constraint
Thank you to Wilf Stoddart for his report on the Eunoia Society lecture on “Writing with Constraint”:
On the Thursday evening after half term, Dr Moyle spoke to the Eunoia Society on the topic of ‘Writing with Constraint’- a particular approach to creative writing. The talk focused on the work of the Oulipo, a name that is short for Ouvroir de lit’rature potentielle (workshop of potential literature). In discussing the history and origins of this society, Dr Moyle took us through some interesting techniques that use mathematics in surprising ways. This included the N+7 method, where you replace every noun with the seventh noun after it in the dictionary, an approach that leads to interesting and sometimes humorous results.
Throughout the lecture, we met many authors who used Oulipian styles such as Georges Perec, who wrote a book called ‘Life: A User’s Manual’ using grid squares that were superimposed onto a diagram of an apartment block in order to create an intricate arrangement of chapters and settings. We were also introduced to the more recent example of Christian Bok, who wrote ‘Eunoia’ using the technique of univocalism, in which each of the book’s five chapters was restricted to the use of a single vowel. For example, in the ‘A’ chapter we read:
‘Awkward grammar appals a craftsman. A Dada bard as daft as Tzara damns stagnant art and scrawls an alpha (a slapdash arc and a backward zag) that mars all stanzas and jams all ballads (what a scandal).’
Dr Moyle presented a subject that intrigued even the most scientifically minded. It was a truly interesting and stretching lecture.