McSWEENEY'S INTERNET TENDENCY'S PATREON

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Oulipian Excerpts from All That is Evident is Suspect

Since its inception in Paris in 1960, the OuLiPo — ouvroir de littérature potentielle, or workshop for potential literature — has continually expanded our sense of what writing can do. It’s produced, among many other marvels, a detective novel without the letter e (and a sequel of sorts without a, i, o, u, or y); an epic poem structured by the Parisian métro system; a story in the form of a tarot reading; a poetry book in the form of a game of go; and a suite of sonnets that would take almost 200 million years to read completely.

Here, we gladly present some excerpts — along with the corresponding explanations, of some pieces found in our newest release — All That is Evident is Suspect, edited by Daniel Levin Becker and Ian Monk.