Pierrot Mon Ami, considered by many to be one of Raymond Queneau’s finest achievements, is a quirky coming-of-age novel concerning a young man’s initiation into a world filled with deceit, fraud, and manipulation. From his short-lived job at a Paris amusement park where he helps to raise women’s skirts to the delight of an unruly audience, to his frustrated and unsuccessful love of Yvonne, to his failed assignment to care for the tomb of the shadowy Prince Luigi of Poldevia, Pierrot stumbles about, nearly immune to the effects of duplicity. This “innocent” implies how his story, at almost every turn, undermines, upsets, and plays upon our expectations, leaving us with more questions than answers, and doing so in a gloriously skewed style (admirably re-created by Barbara Wright, Queneau’s principle translator).

On a crowded bus at midday, the narrator observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the first man takes it. Later, in another part of town, the man is spotted again, while being advised by a friend to have another button sewn onto his overcoat. Exercises in Style retells this apparently unremarkable tale ninety-nine times, employing a variety of styles, ranging from sonnet to cockney to mathematical formula. Too funny to be merely a pedantic thesis, this virtuoso set of themes and variations is a linguistic rustremover, a guide to literary forms and a demonstration of imagery and inventiveness.

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 a new button on his overcoat.

Exercises in Style Queneau s experimental masterpiece and a hallmark book of the Oulipo literary group retells this unexceptional tale ninety-nine times, employing the sonnet and the alexandrine, onomatopoeia and Cockney. An Abusive chapter heartily deplores the events; Opera English lends them grandeur. Queneau once said that of all his books, this was the one he most wished to see translated. He offered Barbara Wright his heartiest congratulations, adding: I have always thought that nothing is untranslatable.Here is new proof.

To celebrate the 65th anniversary of the 1947 French publication of Exercises de Style, New Directions has asked several writers to contribute new exercises as a tribute. Tantalizing examples include Jonathan Lethem s Cyberpunk, Harry Mathew s Phonetic Eros, and Frederic Tuten s Beatnik exercises. This edition also retains Barbara Wright s original introduction and reminiscence of working on this book a translation that in 2008 was ranked first on the Author s Society s list of The 50 Outstanding Translations of the Last 50 Years. "

This volume contains Tristan Tzara's famous manifestos, which first appeared between 1916 and 1921 and became essential texts of the modern movement and models for Breton's Surrealist manifestos. Art for Tzara was both deadly serious and a game, and the playfulness of his character is apparent not only in his polemic, which often uses dadaist typography, but in the delightful drawings contributed by Francis Picabia. In addition, this volume also contains Tzara's Lampisteries - articles that throw light on various art forms contemporary with his own work, at a time when art, weary of the old certainties, turned into subjective and often abstract forms, favouring the reality of the mind over that of the senses.

Seated in a Paris cafe, a man glimpses another man, a shadowy figure hurrying for the train: Who is he? he wonders, How does he live? And instantly the shadow comes to life, precipitating a series of comic run-ins among a range of disreputable and heartwarming characters living on the sleazy outskirts of the city of lights. "Witch Grass" (previously titled "The Bark Tree") is a philosophical farce, an epic comedy, a mesmerizing book about the daily grind that is an enchantment itself.

Published originally as the purported French translation of a novel by fictional Irish writer Sally Mara, We Always Treat Women Too Well is set in Dublin during the 1916 Easter Rising and tells the story of the siege of a small post office by a group of rebels, who discover to their embarrassment that a female postal clerk, Gertie Girdle, is still in the lavatory some time after they have shot or expelled the rest of the staff. The events that follow are not for prudish readers, forming a scintillating, linguistically delightful and hilarious narrative. By far Queneau's bawdiest work, We Always Treat Women Too Well contains all of its author's hallmarks: wit, stylistic innovation and formal playfulness - expertly rendered into English by Barbara Wright's classic translation.

The Blue Flowers follows two unlikely characters: Cidrolin, who alternates between drinking and napping on a barge parked along the Seine in the 1960s, and the Duke d'Auge as he rages through history-about 700 years of it-refusing to crusade, clobbering his king with a cannon, and dabbling in alchemy. But is it just a coincidence that the Duke appears only when Cidrolin is dozing? And vice versa? As Raymond Queneau explains: "There is an old Chinese saying: 'I dream that I am a butterfly and pray there is a butterfly dreaming he is me.' The same can be said of the characters in this novel-those who live in the past dream of those who live in the modern era-and those who live in the modern era dream of those who live in the past." Channeling Villon and Celine, Queneau attempts to bring the language of the French streets into common literary usage, and his mad wordplays, puns, bawdy jokes, and anachronistic wackiness have been kept amazingly and glitteringly intact by the incomparable translator Barbara Wright.

Translation and the Arts in Modern France sits at the intersection of transposition, translation, and ekphrasis, finding resonances in these areas across periods, places, and forms. Within these contributions, questions of colonization, subjugation, migration, and exile connect Benin to Brittany, and political philosophy to the sentimental novel and to film. Focusing on cultural production from 1830 to the present and privileging French culture, the contributors explore interactions with other cultures, countries, and continents, often explicitly equating intercultural permeability with representational exchange. In doing so, the book exposes the extent to which moving between media and codes-the very process of translation and transposition-is a defining aspect of creativity across time, space, and disciplines.

When shop-owner Julia Segovia decides that she's going to marry the handsome if exceedingly young and naive soldier Valentin Bru, he willingly goes along with her scheme. Little does he know that he will have to contend with disgruntled in-laws, eccentric locals, a cunning wife, a shifty career in fortune-telling, the approaching threat of war with Germany and the mysteries of Parisian public transport. With a cast of eccentric characters, amusing incidents and an uplifting tone, The Sunday of Life - its title playfully alluding to Hegel's theory of history - is a scintillating novel which showcases Queneau's trademark punning, sly wit and delight in the absurdity of people and situations.

The Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill) and Susan (Carol Ann Ford) find themselves stranded in Aztec times when the TARDIS is trapped in a tomb. Proclaimed a goddess by the Aztec priests, Barbara attempts to change the course of history by forbidding the human sacrifices which are part of the Aztecs' religion. It is up to the Doctor to find a way back into the tomb and recover the TARDIS, before the priest Tlotoxl (John Ringham) unmasks Barbara.

Another adventure for everyone's favourite time traveller. The Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian, Barbara and Vicki land on the planet Vortis, where a war is raging between the ant-like Zarbi and the butterfly-like Menoptra.

Compilation of a six-part story from the popular sci-fi series. The Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian, Barbara and Susan return to Earth in the year 2167 only to find that the Daleks have occupied the planet. They join the human resistance movement in an attempt to overthrow the Daleks, who are mining the core of the planet for a sinister purpose of their own. This story was remade into a film, 'Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD', starring Peter Cushing as the Doctor.

Translation and the Arts in Modern France sits at the intersection of transposition, translation, and ekphrasis, finding resonances in these areas across periods, places, and forms. Within these contributions, questions of colonization, subjugation, migration, and exile connect Benin to Brittany, and political philosophy to the sentimental novel and to film. Focusing on cultural production from 1830 to the present and privileging French culture, the contributors explore interactions with other cultures, countries, and continents, often explicitly equating intercultural permeability with representational exchange. In doing so, the book exposes the extent to which moving between media and codes—the very process of translation and transposition—is a defining aspect of creativity across time, space, and disciplines.

THE DYNAMICS OF THE METTA MAP MAKE NAVIGATING THE BUDDHA DHARMA EXPERIENTIALLY ACCESSIBLE The Metta Map is both the centerpiece of the Metta System, and the vehicle we use to present the information in this book. The Metta Map was developed as a teaching device by Dr. Barbara Wright. It was designed as a tool for conflict resolution, and has been used successfully for the past ten years, both intra-personally and inter-personally, in various applications such as clinical, family, corporate, and others. It became apparent that the Metta Map represents the entirety of the Dharma, which is embedded in both its structure and content, and that it can be used as a navigational tool for learning and teaching the Dharma. It is our hope that this book, which synthesizes the core teachings of the Buddha, will be a joyful adventure that increases your Dharma knowledge and moves you forward your own path. Visit www.themettasystem.com Dr. Barbara Wright is the author of "The Metta System: The Map, The Formula, and The Equations." Dr. Stephen Long is the co-author of "Thus We Heard: Recollections of the Life of the Buddha."

ANNA EBBESSEN grew up in a soddy her father homesteaded after the 1893 Cherokee Strip land-run. At barely seventeen, her mother insists that she leave home to seek a better life. Anna feels guilty about leaving her mother with her abusive, drunken father, but when given the opportunity to work as a hired girl for the Muellers, she decides to go even though it is many miles from her home. The Muellers' modern farm has many conveniences and their lifestyle is vastly different from what Anna has experienced. In their home for the first time she hears the Bible read, she learns about salvation and what a happy family should be. While living there she meets JOHN DAVIS, an "entirely satisfactory" man, only to learn that her mother has been put in a mental hospital, and she is expected to return home as her father's caregiver. She is faced with a choice, accept her responsibility and face her father's abuse and hostility, or stay and have a chance to fulfill her dreams.

Virginia Mendenhall, a Quaker from North Carolina, is thirty-three years old when she travels to the arid plains of eastern Colorado in the mid-1930s to marry Alfred Bowen, ten years her senior. They have met only twice and have come to love each other through letters. Now, on an isolated ranch in the Dust Bowl, they must adjust to the harsh ranching life and the dangers of an untamed landscape, as well as the differences between them.

With an extended drought worsening the impact of the Depression in the West, neighbors turn against neighbors, and secrets from Alfred and Virginia's pasts come back to haunt them. But it is the arrival of Virginia's troubled brother on the ranch that sets off a chain of events with life-and-death consequences for them all.

Plain Language is a beautifully told tale of a man and woman fighting against tremendous odds for their land -- and their love.

The cult classic from one of France's most stylish writers 'Don't give a damn,' says Zazie, 'what I wanted was to go in the metro' Impish, foul-mouthed Zazie arrives in Paris from the country to stay with her uncle Gabriel. All she really wants to do is ride the metro, but finding it shut because of a strike, Zazie looks for other means of amusement and is soon caught up in a comic adventure that becomes wilder and more manic by the minute. In 1960 Queneau's cult classic was made into a hugely successful film by Louis Malle. Packed full of word play and phonetic games, Zazie in the Metro remains as stylish and witty as ever.

In late-nineteenth-century Paris, the writer Hubert is shocked to discover that Icarus, the protagonist of the new novel he's working on, has vanished. Looking for him among the manuscripts of his rivals does not solve the mystery, so a detective is hired to find the runaway character, who is now in Montparnasse, where he learns to drink absinthe and is picked up by a friendly prostitute. These hilarious adventures make Queneau's novel, presented in the form of a script and parodying various genres, one of the best literary jeux d'esprit in modern literature.

An early adventure for everyone's favourite time traveller. When the TARDIS lands on the planet Marinus, the Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian, Barbara and Susan are captured by Arbitan, Keeper of the Conscience of Marinus. The Conscience is an all-powerful machine which controls the planet in an attempt to regulate crime, but it requires four missing crystals to complete its function. Otherwise, the machine could fall into the hands of the Voord, led by the evil Yartek. The TARDIS crew are thus charged by Arbitan with recovering the crystals before it is too late.

An edition of two manuscript essays found in the family archives of the descendants of the painter and writer Eugene Fromentin. These unpublished essays were submitted in 1840 by their author, Albert Aubert, to Fromentin and his friend Paul Bataillard, for comment and in part response to a question which they had posed, concerning the importance of ambition as a prerequisite for happiness. Les deux essais, publies ici pour la premiere fois, datent de mars 1840. Leur auteur, Albert Aubert, y repond, au moins partiellement, a une question que ses amis, Eugene Fromentin et Paul Bataillard, lui avaient posee: pour etre heureux, l'homme doit-il avoir de l'ambition ? Aubert passe en revue l'evolution de l'humanite, du spiritualisme metaphysique au spiritualisme laic, et nous donne un temoignage sur l'histoire des mentalites sous la monarchie de Juillet: a l'individualisme et au liberalisme de 1789 a succede la rehabilitation de l'intervention de l'Etat, afin de developper la solidarite au sein de la societe. Ce debat evoque des questions qui sont d'une brulante actualite, a une epoque ou nous eprouvons les limites du modele democratique, la crise de l'Etat-providence, l'essoufflement du modele social-democrate et la baisse d'efficacite des therapeutiques keynesiennes. On peut y voir aussi les premices de Dominique, le roman de 1862 quasi autobiographique de Fromentin, ou la retraite souhaitee par le heros eponyme, qui se donne pour un premier venu, comporte neanmoins une vie interieure active et intense. Texte etabli, avec Introduction et notes, par Barbara Wright, professeur emerite de litterature francaise a Trinity College, Dublin."

Narcisse Berchere was commissioned by Ferdinand de Lesseps to make a visual record of the first phase of the construction of the Suez Canal. To this end, he spent five months in the Isthmus, from November 1861 to March 1862. He is said, by his first biographer, Bernard Prost to have completed an 'album', containing 68 plans, drawings and watercolours. This 'album' was given by Berchere to Ferdinand de Lesseps, who then presented it to Emperor Napoleon III, via the Duc de Bassano. It was held at the Palais des Tuileries in Paris, where it is believed to have perished, when the Palace was burned down in 1871, at the time of the Commune. Fortunately, Narcisse Berchere also gave a verbal account of his experiences in a book, published by Jules Hetzel in 1863, Le Desert de Suez: cinq mois dans l'Isthme, of which this is the first new edition. Professor Wright is Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin.