The End of Oulipo? An Attempt to Exhaust a Movement, 2013

As this experiment in literary patterns enters its sixth decade, its members, fans and critics are wondering: where can it go from here?

The Oulipo, founded in 1960s, is a group of writers and mathematicians which seeks to create literature using constrained experimental writing techniques such as palindromes, lipograms and snowballs. A lipogram is writing that excludes one or more letters. A snowball is a poem in which each line is a single word, and each successive word is one letter longer. 

The Oulipo group celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2010, and as it enters its sixth decade, its members, fans and critics are all wondering: where can it go from here? In two long essays Veronica Esposito and Lauren Elkin consider Oulipo's strengths, weaknesses, and impact on today's experimental literature.

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Praise for The End of Oulipo?

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The authors don't come close to exhausting their subject(s), but The End of Oulipo ? is well worthwhile for anyone interested in engaging with contemporary literature.

-- M.A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

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Plucky...I recommend this book to anyone interested in the meaning of experimental literature, and especially to anyone who is a writer.

-- Levi Asher, LitKicks