Hervé Le Tellier

Hervé Le Tellier (born April 21, 1957) is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which translates roughly as "workshop of potential literature"). Other notable members are Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino, Jacques Roubaud and Harry Mathews.

Biography

Born in Paris, Le Tellier started his career as a scientific journalist, and joined Oulipo in 1992. As an author, he came to general attention in 1998 with the publication in France of his book "Les amnésiques n'ont rien vécu d'inoubliable", a collection of one thousand very short sentences all beginning with "Je pense que" (I think that). His rather complex novel "Le voleur de nostalgie" is a tribute to the Italian writer Italo Calvino.

He is also one of the "Papous dans la tête", the cult literary quiz of "France Culture", the French cultural radio station.

He became in 2002 a daily contributor to the website of the newspaper "Le Monde" with a short satirical chronicle called "Papier de verre" (glass paper).

One of his most recent publication is "Esthétique de l’Oulipo" ("The Aesthetics of Oulipo"), a very personal take on literature under constraint, considered from a linguistic perspective.

His books

*"Sonates de bar", short stories, 1991.
*"Le voleur de nostalgie", novel, 1992.
*"La disparition de Perek", 1997.
*"Les amnésiques n'ont rien vécu d'inoubliable", 1998 ("All our thoughts")
*"Inukshuk", 1998, videograms by Jean-Baptiste Decavèle.
*"Joconde jusqu'à cent", 1999.
*"Zindien", 2000, poetry, illustrated by Henri Cueco.
*"Encyclopaedia Inutilis", short stories, 2002.
*"Joconde sur votre indulgence", 2002.
*"Cités de mémoire", 2003, ("Sighted cities")
*"La chapelle Sextine", novel, 2005.
*"Esthétique de l'Oulipo", essay, 2006.
*"Je m'attache très facilement", novel, 2007.
*"Les opossums célèbres", poetry, portmanteau words, illustrated by Xavier Gorce, 2007.

in English, with Oulipo

* "Oulipo Compendium", Atlas Press, 1998
* "Winter Journeys", Atlas Press, 2000

External links

* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Le_Tellier The french wikipedia page about Herve Le Tellier (in french)]
* [http://drunkenboat.com/db8/index.html "Drunken Boat" page about Oulipo and excerpts from "Sighted cities"]
* [http://www.oulipocompendium.com/html/excerpt_frame.html "Oulipo Compendium" excerpts from "All our thoughts"]