The exhibition in brief
Conceived as an exhibition of "instructions for use", this presentation brings together nearly 300 works and invites visitors to discover or better understand a multifaceted oeuvre. Manuscripts, photographs, paintings, drawings and objects held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, at its Arsenal site (Paris IV e), examine the "Perec myth" while revealing, as a mirror to his writings, the man behind the work.
A life, instructions for use
Georges Perec began his life dramatically: his father died in 1940 during the first battles of the Second World War, his mother was deported and murdered at Auschwitz in 1943, and he himself spent the Occupation as a "hidden child" in the Vercors. After a difficult start, literary success arrived in 1965 with Les Choses, faded somewhat, then resurfaced in 1978 thanks to the success of La Vie mode d'emploi. After Perec's sudden death at the age of 46, his work continued to gain in importance and recognition, culminating in its entry into the prestigious Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in 2017.
Vowels and an absence, a journey through Perec's work and life
Playful and interactive, the exhibition route unfolds across six spaces designed like the vowels of the alphabet. Through these stages, it reveals a body of work whose discovery also reveals the man hiding behind the texts.
Notes, manuscripts, typescripts and publications engage in dialogue with photographs, drawings, paintings and objects (a bicycle, a typewriter) to build a relationship with the visitor in which the notion of play, so present in Perec and his Oulipian friends, occupies a central place.
Space A: the first space presents the great diversity of a protean oeuvre, particularly evident in his early attempts and first publications, such as Les Choses (Prix Renaudot 1965), and Un homme qui dort, which the writer adapted for the cinema in 1974.
Space [E]: a reference to one of his most famous works, La Disparition, in which the letter E never appears. This mysterious space evokes absence and, in negative space, composes the portrait of the one the exhibition invokes.
Space I: this space shows the liberating use of constraint in the construction and writing of novels (La Disparition) as well as poems (Alphabets), nourished by his association with the Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle), a literary research group founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais.
Space O: this section focuses on attention paid to common and ordinary things, which make up everyday surroundings and define a generation as well as an individual. Je me souviens and Espèces d'espaces are discussed here, today extended by many creators who also invite their readers to continue the gesture.
Space U: when his will to totality relies on constraints to rehabilitate realism and epic ambition, Perec constructs La Vie mode d'emploi (Prix Médicis 1978), his masterpiece, whose stages of creation are presented through the preparatory manuscripts.
Space Y: the final section of the exhibition bears witness to faith in literature as a remedy, a saving quest and a vital affirmation, beyond the traumas of a stolen childhood (W ou le souvenir d'enfance) or the questioning of exile (Récits d'Ellis Island).
A source of inspiration for creators from all backgrounds
The numerous resonances of Perec's work among contemporary artists are evoked through the presentation of several artworks and graphic works by Christian Boltanski, Sophie Calle, Sam Szafran, On Kawara or Roman Opalka; models by Clarence Stiernet, embroideries by the group Perecofil, drawings by Brecht Evens or Étienne Lécroart… The exhibition also offers the chance to discover the little-known, if not unpublished, talent of Georges Perec as a draughtsman and painter. Finally, a selection of film extracts recalls his participation in several cinematic productions.
The true of the false at the Arsenal library
Alongside the exhibition, an annex devoted to Perec, Le vrai du faux, is presented free of charge at the Arsenal library, a BnF site where the writer's archives have been held since 1984. This display invites an irreverent examination of the figure of the forger, often a driving force in Perec's work, as well as its trompe-l'œil games.