Perec and Benabou

In class on Monday we were asked to move to different groups and discuss Perecs novel and how the Oulipo use constraints to break away from traditional ways of writing. I think switching up the groups was a good way to promote more creative thinking than what was going on within our own specific groups. I have always thought that having many minds discussing a topic is better than just one or two. When I went to another group we discussed how the conventions of language are virtually unchangeable. It seems that language needs to be universal to impact humanity. What I mean by this is that when we read the translated versions of the mid-term paper the meaning was still there, even as confusing as it may have been. I found it interesting how certain words changed. this obviously created a new meaning to the text. I think this is exactly what Perec and the Oulipo are trying to do with their writing styles. Also, I found it intriguing how some sentences were changed from present to past tense. I think there is a lot that can be said about how in translation the time period of an action taking place can change all together.