Exercises in Style

Exercises in Style
Author(s)	Raymond Queneau
Original title	Exercices de style
Translator	Barbara Wright (English)
Country	France
Language	French
Genre(s)	Constrained writing, Fiction
Publication date	1947
Published in English	1958
Media type	Print

Exercises in Style (French: Exercices de style), written by Raymond Queneau, is a collection of 99 retellings of the same story, each in a different style. In each, the narrator gets on the "S" bus (now no. 84), witnesses an altercation between a man (a zazou) with a long neck and funny hat and another passenger, and then sees the same person two hours later at the Gare St-Lazare getting advice on adding a button to his overcoat. The literary variations recall the famous 33rd chapter of the 1512 rhetorical guide by Desiderius Erasmus, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style.

Translations

The book has been translated into the following languages :

• English by Barbara Wright (1958)
• Italian by Umberto Eco (1983)
• Serbian by Danilo Kiš
• Czech by Patrik Ouředník (1985 and revised in 1994)
• Dutch by Rudy Kousbroek
• Norwegian by Ragnar Hovland
• Esperanto by István Ertl (1986)
• Finnish by Pentti Salmenranta (1991)
• German by Ludwig Harig and Eugen Helmlé
• Greek by Achilleas Kyriakides
• Bulgarian by Vasil Sotirov and Elena Tomalevska
• Turkish by Armağan Ekici (2003)
• Pashtu language by Victor Monchego, Jr (2009 in progress)
• Polish by Jan Gondowicz
• Macedonian by Elizabeta Trpkovska (2005)
• Basque by Xabier Olarra (2006)
• Estonian by Triinu Tamm and Jana Porila (2007)
• Swedish by Lars Hagström
• Danish by Otto Jul Pedersen (1994)
• Russian by V.A.Petrov ed. (1998)
• Slovene by Aleš Berger (1994)
• Romanian by Călin Vlasie ed. (2006)
• Galician by H.H. Banet and X.M.P.Varela (1995)
• Portuguese by H.A. Medeiros et al. (2000)
• Japanese by Koji Asahima.
• Spanish by Antonio Fernández Ferrer.
• Catalan by A.Bats and R.Lladó (1989)
• Brazilian Portuguese (1995)
• Hungarian by R.Bognár (1988)
• Züritüütsch by Felix E.Wyss
• Ukrainian by Yaroslav Koval' and Yuriy Lisenko (the poems by Yurka Pozayaka)

Because, by their nature, the various retellings of the story employ fine subtleties of the French language, translations into these other languages are adaptations as well as being translations.

Styles employed

The English translation by Barbara Wright (reprinted in paperback in 1981) consists of the tale retold in the following 'styles', where the original has been adapted (rather than translated) the original title is given in italics following :-

Notation Double Entry Litotes Metaphorically Retrograde Surprises Dream Prognostication Synchysis The Rainbow Word Game Hesitation Precision The Subjective Side Another Subjectivity Narrative Word Composition Negativities Animism Anagrams Distinguo Homeoptotes Official Letter Blurb Onomatopoeia Logical Analysis

Insistence Ignorance Past Present Reported Speech Passive Alexandrines Polyptotes Apheresis Apocope Syncope Speaking Personally Exclamations You Know Noble Cockney (Vulgaire) Cross examination Comedy Asides Parachesis Spectral Philosophic Apostrophe Awkward Casual Biased

Sonnet Olefactory Gustatory Tactile Visual Auditory Telegraphic Ode Permutations by Groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5 letters Permutations by Groups of 5, 6, 7, and 8 letters Permutations by Groups of 9, 10, 11, and 12 letters Hellenisms Reactionary Haiku Free Verse Feminine Gallicisms (Anglicismes) Epenthesis Paragoge Parts of Speech Metathesis Consequences (Par devant par derrière)

Proper Names Rhyming Slang (Loucherbem) Back Slang (Javanais) Antiphrasis Dog Latin More or Less Opera English (Italianismes) For ze Frrensh (Poor lay Zanglay) Spoonerisms Botanical Medical Abusive Gastronomical Zoological Futile Modern Style Probabilist Portrait Mathematical Interjections West Indian (Paysan) Precious Unexpected

Other adaptations

An homage in graphic novel form, 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden, was published in 2005.

A story (An Exercise in Style [1]) written in 2008 by popular blogger Obi Okorougo was inspired and dedicated to Raymond Queneau.

A typographic interpretation of the German version of Exercices de Style, "Stilübungen – visuelle Interpretationen" by the graphic designer Marcus Kraft, was published in 2006.

Exercises in Style on Scribd.com

In Croatia, Tonko Maroević and Tomislav Radić adapted Exercices de Style (transferring the plot from the 1940's Paris to modern Zagreb) into a stage play for two actors, which has been played by Pero Kvrgić and Lela Margitić since 1968.