Perec and Matthews (Oulipo)

Georges Perec’s novel “A Void” maintains the plot and structure of a proper novel while still operating under the lack of a fundamental building block, the letter “e”. Multiple times while reading the excerpt I found myself examining the words, trying to find a point where a mistake was made, and the forbidden letter would surface, but to no avail. If anything, this method of writing distracts the reader from the events that are occurring which makes the plot that much harder to follow. Harry Matthews mentions Perec’s endeavor in his essay “The Case of the Persevering Maltese: Translation and the Oulipo”, but describes it as a return to childlike challenges however no longer in the form of games, but instead as an obstacle to overcome in writing.