Exercises in Style

On a crowded bus at midday, Raymond Queneau observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the first man appropriates it. Later, in another part of town, Queneau sees the man being advised by a friend to sew another button on his overcoat. “Exercises in Style” retells this unexceptional tale ninety-nine times in ninety-nine different styles. An Abusive chapter heartily deplores the events, Opera English lends them grandeur. Raymond Queneau rendered Barbara Wright his heartiest congratulations, adding, I have always thought that nothing is untranslatable. Here is new proof.