Georges Perec facts for kids

Georges Perec (pronounced Zhorzh Peh-REK) was a French writer, filmmaker, and essayist. He was born on March 7, 1936, and passed away on March 3, 1982. Perec was part of a special group of writers called Oulipo. This group liked to use fun and clever rules or "constraints" when writing. Many of his books explore ideas about things that are missing, memories, and who we are, often using lots of word games and puzzles.

Early Life and Family

Georges Perec was born in a working-class part of Paris, France. He was the only child of Icek Judko and Cyrla Peretz. His parents were Polish Jews who had moved to France in the 1920s. He was also a distant relative of a famous Yiddish writer, Isaac Leib Peretz.

Perec's father joined the French Army during World War II. Sadly, he died in 1940 because of injuries from the war. His mother also died during the war, likely in 1943, as part of the terrible events of the Holocaust.

In 1942, Georges was taken care of by his aunt and uncle. They formally adopted him in 1945, becoming his new family.

Georges Perec's Career

Perec started his writing journey by reviewing books and writing essays. He wrote for important French magazines like La Nouvelle Revue française. At the same time, he was studying history and sociology at the Sorbonne university.

In 1958 and 1959, Perec served in the army as a paratrooper. After leaving the army, he married Paulette Petras. They lived in Sfax, Tunisia, for a year (1960-1961), where Paulette worked as a teacher. These experiences later inspired his book Things: A Story of the Sixties.

Working as an Archivist

In 1961, Perec began working at a research laboratory. He was an archivist in the research library. This job involved handling many records and different types of information. Some people think this daily work influenced his unique writing style. He kept this job until 1978.

Perec was also greatly influenced by the Oulipo group, which he joined in 1967. This is where he met other creative writers, including Raymond Queneau. Perec dedicated his amazing book, La Vie mode d'emploi (Life: A User's Manual), to Queneau.

From Radio to Film

In the late 1960s, Perec started writing radio plays. He worked with his translator, Eugen Helmle, and musician Philippe Drogoz. Less than ten years later, he began making films.

His first film was based on his own novel, Un Homme qui dort. He co-directed it with Bernard Queysanne. This film won him the Prix Jean Vigo award in 1974. Perec also enjoyed creating crossword puzzles for a magazine called Le Point starting in 1976.

Full-Time Writer

His novel La Vie mode d'emploi (published in 1978) brought Perec a lot of success. It won the Prix Médicis award. This success allowed him to become a full-time writer.

In 1981, he was a writer-in-residence at the University of Queensland in Australia. During this time, he started working on a book called 53 Jours (53 Days), but he didn't get to finish it.

Soon after returning from Australia, Perec's health became very poor. He was a heavy smoker and was diagnosed with a serious illness. He passed away the next year in Ivry-sur-Seine at the age of 45. His ashes are kept at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Georges Perec's Work

An Ambigram created by Georges Perec.

Many of Perec's books and essays are full of experimental word games. He often used lists and tried to classify things. His writing also often had a touch of sadness or melancholy.

Famous Novels

Perec's first novel, Les Choses (published in English as Things: A Story of the Sixties) (1965), won the Prix Renaudot award.

His most famous novel is La Vie mode d'emploi (Life A User's Manual), published in 1978. The book is like a huge puzzle made of many stories and ideas. It's about the lives of people living in a made-up apartment building in Paris. Perec wrote it using a very complex plan and special rules. The 99 chapters move around the building like a knight on a chessboard, describing rooms and telling the residents' stories. At the end, you find out the whole book happens in just one moment!

Constrained Writing

Perec is well-known for his "constrained writing". This means he set himself strict rules for how to write.

• His 300-page novel La disparition (1969) is a lipogram. This means it was written without using the letter "e" at all! It was translated into English as A Void.
• His shorter book Les revenentes (1972) is the opposite. In this book, the letter "e" is the only vowel used. Even the title uses "e" where a different vowel would normally be.

Another interesting work is "Cantatrix sopranica L. Scientific Papers". This is a funny, fake scientific paper. It describes experiments on how sopranos (opera singers) react when rotten tomatoes are thrown at them. All the references in the paper are clever puns and jokes.

Autobiographical Work

W ou le souvenir d'enfance (W, or the Memory of Childhood, 1975) is a book that mixes fiction with Perec's own life. It has two stories that switch back and forth. One story is about a fictional island country called "W." At first, it seems like a perfect society, but it slowly becomes clear that it's a scary, totalitarian prison, much like a concentration camp. The second story describes Perec's own childhood during and after World War II. Both stories connect at the end, showing the shared theme of the Holocaust.

Later Discoveries

In 1992, a novel Perec had written earlier, Gaspard pas mort, was found. It was thought to be lost! This novel was later rewritten and published as Le Condottière [fr] in 2012. Its English translation is called Portrait of a Man.

Honors and Recognition

Georges Perec received many honors for his work:

• An Asteroid (no. 2817), discovered in 1982, was named after him.
• In 1994, a street in Paris was named rue Georges-Perec [fr] in his honor.
• The French postal service even issued a stamp with his image in 2002.
• He won several awards for his writing: the Prix Renaudot in 1965, the Prix Jean Vigo in 1974, and the Prix Médicis in 1978.
• He was featured as a Google Doodle on his 80th birthday, showing how important his work is.

Books by Georges Perec

Here are some of Georges Perec's most important books:

Films by Georges Perec

• Un homme qui dort, 1974 (co-directed with Bernard Queysanne, English title: The Man Who Sleeps)
• Les Lieux d'une fugue, 1975
• Série noire (directed by Alain Corneau, 1979)
• Ellis Island (TV film with Robert Bober)

See also

In Spanish: Georges Perec para niños