9781787354425
9781787354432
Georges Perec (1936–82) was one of the most inventive and original writers of the twentieth century. A fascinating aspect of his work as a novelist, filmmaker, and essayist is its intrinsically geographical nature. With many major projects on space and place, Perec’s writing speaks to a variety of geographical, urban, and architectural concerns—both in a substantive way, including a focus on cities, streets, and homes, and in a methodological way, as in his experiments with urban observation and exploration.
Georges Perec’s Geographies explores Perec’s geographical interests. The book is divided into two parts: Part I, “Perec’s Geographies,” explores space and place within Perec’s films, radio plays, and literature, from descriptions of actual streets to the fictional places within his work. Part II, “Perecquian Geographies,” explores geography in works directly inspired by Perec, including writing, photographs and photo essays, soundscapes, theater, and dance. Extending Perecquian criticism beyond literary and French studies to disciplines including geography, urban studies, and architecture, Georges Perec’s Geographies offers a complete and systematic examination that will be of interest not only to Perec scholars but also to students and researchers across these subjects.
Georges Perec’s Geographies explores Perec’s geographical interests. The book is divided into two parts: Part I, “Perec’s Geographies,” explores space and place within Perec’s films, radio plays, and literature, from descriptions of actual streets to the fictional places within his work. Part II, “Perecquian Geographies,” explores geography in works directly inspired by Perec, including writing, photographs and photo essays, soundscapes, theater, and dance. Extending Perecquian criticism beyond literary and French studies to disciplines including geography, urban studies, and architecture, Georges Perec’s Geographies offers a complete and systematic examination that will be of interest not only to Perec scholars but also to students and researchers across these subjects.
234 pages | 24 color plates | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2019
Free digital open access editions are available to download from UCL Press.
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
Table of Contents
Introduction: Georges Perec’s geographies; Perecquian geographies
Richard Phillips, Andrew Leak and Charles Forsdick
1. The mapping of loss
Andrew Leak
2. ‘Entre Frence et Engleterre: toponyms and the poetics of reference in Perec’s fiction
Derek Schilling
3. The subject and the city in Un homme qui dort
Julia Dobson
4. Poetics of scale: Perec and Gaullism
Douglas Smith
5. Accumulation versus Dispersion: Perec and ‘his’ diaspora
Anna-Louise Milne
6. Islands, camps, zones: towards a nissological reading of Perec
Amanda Crawley Jackson
7. Textual, audio and physical space: adapting Perec’s radio plays for theatre
Christopher Hall
Perecquian Geographies
8. Perecquian soundscapes
Alasdair Pettinger
9. Perecquian spaces for performance practices
Oliver Bray
10. Embodiment and everyday space: dancing with Perec
Leslie Satin
11. Seeing more flatly: the Regional Book
David Matless
12. Endotic Englishness: Meades and Perec
Daryl Martin
13. Perecquian photography inside and outside the field: fairgrounds
Ian Trowell
14. Photographic investigation of the infraordinary
Joanne Lee
15. When nothing happens in Huddersfield
Kevin Boniface
Richard Phillips, Andrew Leak and Charles Forsdick
1. The mapping of loss
Andrew Leak
2. ‘Entre Frence et Engleterre: toponyms and the poetics of reference in Perec’s fiction
Derek Schilling
3. The subject and the city in Un homme qui dort
Julia Dobson
4. Poetics of scale: Perec and Gaullism
Douglas Smith
5. Accumulation versus Dispersion: Perec and ‘his’ diaspora
Anna-Louise Milne
6. Islands, camps, zones: towards a nissological reading of Perec
Amanda Crawley Jackson
7. Textual, audio and physical space: adapting Perec’s radio plays for theatre
Christopher Hall
Perecquian Geographies
8. Perecquian soundscapes
Alasdair Pettinger
9. Perecquian spaces for performance practices
Oliver Bray
10. Embodiment and everyday space: dancing with Perec
Leslie Satin
11. Seeing more flatly: the Regional Book
David Matless
12. Endotic Englishness: Meades and Perec
Daryl Martin
13. Perecquian photography inside and outside the field: fairgrounds
Ian Trowell
14. Photographic investigation of the infraordinary
Joanne Lee
15. When nothing happens in Huddersfield
Kevin Boniface