It's always a highlight of my year when I can sit down and read something new by Raymond Queneau. Probably there is not a lot left of his work to be translated into English. The poems from Elementary Morality came towards the end of his life and are separated into three parts--the first of which are Quennets--one more line than a sonnet--of which Queneau also saw consistency with the ideas and spirit of the Oulipo group that he helped found in 1960--other members including Italo Calvino and Georges Perec. The quennets all have this kind of structure.

Old river-dweller Antique letters Rare paraphs
Eclipsed sun
Stacked sentences Full paragraphs Thick chapters
Mephitic moon
Browned books Yellowed books Cracked books
Darkened sky

You search
a shelf
for the trace of dust
the bright silverfish
the flaked-off leather
the burnt-out crystal
all your treasure

Browned books Yellowed books Cracked books
Rising sun

The ideas for the Quennets come from Queneau's fascination with Chinese philosophy and the I ching. The last two parts are made up of prose poems. They are at times philosphical, at other times filled with Queneau's quirky sense of humor, double entendres and word strechings. To be honest if anything I prefer the older collection of Queneau's poems translated by Ted Savory. In a sense the above may seem somewhat pretentious to a lot of people and Queneau to my mind was anything but. Anyway this collection seems more suited for the hard core Queneau and/or Oulipo fans out there--so though I enjoyed it I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. ( )