Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (Penguin Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Georges Perec (Author), John Sturrock (Editor, Translator, Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: March 20, 2008

Georges Perec produced some of the most entertaining and spirited essays of his age. His literary output was amazingly varied in form and style and this generous selection of Perec's non-fictional work also demonstrates his characteristic lightness of touch, wry humour and accessibility.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

One of the most important post-war French novelists, Georges Perec was only 42 when he died in 1982. He is the author of LIFE, A USER'S MANUAL. THE WINTER JOURNEY has been published as a Penguin Syren. John Sturrock is an editor at the London Review of Books.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141442247
• ISBN-13: 978-0141442242
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars uncategorizable and wonderful, April 16, 2001

By 

Alessandro M Angelini (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

As the author of the world's longest palindrome and other literary feats, Perec's phenomenal linguistic skills and imagination remain incomparable. His works, however, on not merely experiments within the constraints of language; I am not as impressed with his ability to write a 300-page novel without a single letter "e" as much as his endearing sense of humor and humanity. "Species of Spaces" stands as a critical piece of his oeuvre in that it serves as a primer of sorts for his other major works, like a meta-text or map of his other works. Beyond this function, though, lies a vision of what literature can be, beyond genre. Perec explores the spaces we inhabit, beginning with the most evident, the page itself on which he writes (and you read), and "zooming out" into ever grander scales: the apartment, the street, the city, the country, and the universe itself. He does not cease to inscribe himself in each of these spaces, for the crisis that drives this book is that Perec does not exist except in language, on the page, in the apartment, in the street, etc. Every act of writing is an existential re-affirmation, made poignant by the author's circumstances (Perec was the son of Holocaust victims). The darkness of his own history is mitigated, however, by these attempts to capture the here-and-now in writing.

This is a perfect book for the writer seeking inspiration, since the way Perec does not use language as a clunky tool but rather plays with it, tests its limits. Literature seems then not a struggle for self-expression but an exercise in creativity. Perec's approach is refreshing, original, and terribly underappreciated.

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All hail the Wondering Boy Poet, September 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

A welcome addition to the under-translated oeuvre of an incomparable writer. Species of Spaces is a collection of essays, fictions, and verbal bagatelles showcasing a Parisian who "never wanted to write the same thing twice." Perec fuses quotidian concerns with psychological imperatives, and takes you to places you've never been before. Perec's work is the infra and ultra of literature's spectral continuum. And he's gut-busting funny, too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll try to think like this, July 11, 2010

By 

Fairlee E. Winfield "Author of BUFFALOed 2009... (Boulder, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

What a joy reading these placid small thoughts. The everyday was never so interesting until Perec showed how. I'll be keeping this paperback. I'll be opening it whenever I feel a slump in my own writing. He's a real inspiration for writers of all kinds--those doing high minded literature and those of us doing the good old historical fiction Westerns.