Perec and Mathews

Harry Mathews’ “Translation and the Oulipo: The Case of the Persevering Maltese” really helped me in understanding Perec’s “A Void.” It did not help me in understanding the story, which in section two is much easier to follow than in section one, but in understanding why Perec would write a book without using the letter ‘e.’ Mathews says that “The Oulipo supplies writers with hard games to play” (80). So, according to Mathews’ game theory, Perec wrote “A Void” not to produce the best story the world has ever seen, but to write an interesting story with a plot but without the letter ‘e.’ This “proved to be not a limitation but a liberation” (81). It seems that by writing in this style Perec did not have to conform to the guidelines of what a story was supposed to be. Was “A Void” then published because Perec thought people would really enjoy his story, or because he wanted to show his accomplishment and what the Oulipo could do?