A Postcard for G. Perec
One of 243 Postcards for Georges Perec
A project initiated by Linda Parr
Georges Perec’s postcard messages, ‘Deux cent quarante-trois cartes postales en couleurs véritables’ first appeared in Le fou parle in 1978 and features in Georges Perec, L’infra-ordinaire, (Paris, Seuil). The work was dedicated to fellow Oulipian writer Italo Calvino.
The two hundred and forty-three messages from imaginary holidays were translated as ‘Two Hundred and Forty-three Postcards in Real Colour’ by John Sturrock and included in Georges Perec, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (London, Penguin). They are generated by a rigorously applied permutation system that nevertheless allows for some playful interpretation, thus making it difficult to detect and reconstruct by the reader.
Linda Parr’s project aims to respond to the work by adding the missing images to the imaginary messages. Each participant is invited to make a physical postcard that corresponds to a given message and mail it to her.
Why 243 postcards? Perec’s underlying generative system
All the messages are made up of the following five components: I. PLACES, II. CONSIDERATIONS, III. PLEASURES, IV. PARTICULARS, V. GREETINGS
For each of these, the writer gives himself three options:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| PLACES | A. town | F. area | K. hotel |
| CONSIDERATIONS | B. weather | G. siesta | L. sun-bathing |
| PLEASURES | C. food | H. beach | M. well-being |
| PARTICULARS | D. sunstroke | I. occupations | N. meetings |
| GREETINGS | E. love&kisses | J. regards | O. date of return |
The five components with three options enable a total of 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 possibilities, i.e. 243 postcards messages.
Thus the message that generated the postcard opposite can be broken down into: We’re crossing Vaucluse [F]. Weather magnificent [B]. Swimming in the Rhône [H]. I go riding [I]. Fond regards [J].
The name of the geographical area (Vaucluse) is drawn from a predetermined alphabetical list of 81 names. There are similar lists for the names of towns and hotels, and a sophisticated algorithm (similar to the one used by Perec in his novel Life A User’s Manual) determines the order in which the names drawn from the three different lists appear in successive messages. Partial lists of phrases were also found among Perec’s papers.
For further details, see Bernard Magné, ‘Construire l’anodin: les Deux cent quarante-trois cartes postales en couleurs véritables’, Le Cabinet d’amateur, no. 1, 1993, pp. 29—54.