MargaretC
@margaretc
MargaretC
@margaretc
When Jessie meets the Messiah!

Economics and
In the introduction to that (1963) edition, Queneau explains that the idea for the Exercises came to him in the 1930s, after he and his friend Michel Leiris had attended a concert at the Salle Pleyel where Bach's The Art of Fugue had been played. What particularly struck Queneau about this piece was that, although based on a rather slight theme, its variations "proliferated almost to infinity." It would be interesting, he thought, to create a similar work of literature.
The difficulties I had encountered were superseded by stirring memories of the vastness, remoteness, silence, and incredible beauty of this pristine wilderness.