Oulipo

Oulipo, short for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature), is a group of writers and mathematicians dedicated to producing literature through formal constraints. Founded in 1960 in Paris by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais, the collective treats constraints as a source of creativity rather than an obstacle, aiming to explore how rule-bound processes can expand literary possibilities.

Its members have pursued a wide range of techniques to structure writing, from mathematical and combinatorial methods to linguistic games. Notable practices include lipograms (texts omitting a designated letter), palindromes, anagrams, and procedural writing. They also explore self-referential and generative procedures, where a text is created by following predefined rules. Queneau’s Exercises in Style, which tells the same anecdote in 99 different stylistic renditions, is a canonical example. Georges Perec’s La Disparition (A Void), a novel deliberately written without the letter E, is one of the best-known lipograms. Italo Calvino was associated with the group and contributed to its interdisciplinary approach, as did other members such as Jacques Roubaud and Marcel Bénabou.

While not a conventional school, Oulipo has influenced a generation of writers through manifestos, collaborations, and publications that emphasize exploration of form as a means of expanding literary possibility. The group’s work continues to inspire constraint-based literature and interdisciplinary experiments across languages.