Life: A User's Manual

601 Pages·2008·3.06 MB·English

by  Georges Perec

Contents
Cover
About the Author
Also by Georges Perec
Chronology
Dedication
Title Page
Preamble
PART ONE
One: On the Stairs, 1
Two: Beaumont, 1
Three: Third Floor Right, 1
Four: Marquiseaux, 1
Five: Foulerot, 1
Six: Breidel (Servants’ Quarters, 1)
Seven: Morellet (Servants’ Quarters, 2)
Eight: Winckler, 1
Nine: Nieto and Rogers (Servants’ Quarters, 3)
Ten: Jane Sutton (Servants’ Quarters, 4)
Eleven: Hutting, 1
Twelve: Réol, 1
Thirteen: Rorschach, 1
Fourteen: Dinteville, 1
Fifteen: Smautf (Servants’ Quarters, 5)
Sixteen: Célia Crespi (Servants’ Quarters, 6)
Seventeen: On the Stairs, 2
Eighteen: Rorschach, 2
Nineteen: Altamont, 1
Twenty: Moreau, 1
Twenty-One: In the Boiler Room, 1
PART TWO
Twenty-Two: Entrance Hall, 1
Twenty-Three: Moreau, 2
Twenty-Four: Marcia, 1
Twenty-Five: Altamont, 2
Twenty-Six: Bartlebooth, 1
Twenty-Seven: Rorschach, 3
Twenty-Eight: On the Stairs, 3
Twenty-Nine: Third Floor Right, 2
Thirty: Marquiseaux, 2
Thirty-One: Beaumont, 3
Thirty-Two: Marcia, 2
Thirty-Three: Basement, 1
Thirty-Four: On the Stairs, 4
Thirty-Five: The Concierge’s Office
Thirty-Six: On the Stairs, 5
Thirty-Seven: Louvet, 1
Thirty-Eight: Lift Machinery, 1
Thirty-Nine: Marcia, 3
Forty: Beaumont, 4
Forty-One: Marquiseaux, 3
Forty-Two: On the Stairs, 6
Forty-Three: Foulerot, 2
Forty-Four: Winckler, 2
Forty-Five: Plassaert, 1
PART THREE
Forty-Six: Monsieur Jérôme (Servants’ Quarters, 7)
Forty-Seven: Dinteville, 2
Forty-Eight: Madame Albin (Servants’ Quarters, 8)
Forty-Nine: On the Stairs, 7
Fifty: Foulerot, 3
The Fifty-First: Valène (Servants’ Quarters, 9)
Fifty-Two: Plassaert, 2
Fifty-Three: Winckler, 3
Fifty-Four: Plassaert, 3
Fifty-Five: Fresnel (Servants’ Quarters, 10)
Fifty-Six: On the Stairs, 8
Fifty-Seven: Madame Orlowska (Servants’ Quarters, 11)
Fifty-Eight: Gratiolet, 1
Fifty-Nine: Hutting, 2
Sixty: Cinoc, 1
Sixty-One: Berger, 1
Sixty-Two: Altamont, 3
Sixty-Three: Service Entrance
Sixty-Four: In the Boiler Room, 2
PART FOUR
Sixty-Five: Moreau, 3
Sixty-Six: Marcia, 4
Sixty-Seven: Basement, 2
Sixty-Eight: On the Stairs, 9
Sixty-Nine: Altamont, 4
Seventy: Bartlebooth, 2
Seventy-One: Moreau, 4
Seventy-Two: Basement, 3
Seventy-Three: Marcia, 5
Seventy-Four: Lift Machinery, 2
Seventy-Five: Marcia, 6
Seventy-Six: Basement, 4
Seventy-Seven: Louvet, 2
Seventy-Eight: On the Stairs, 10
Seventy-Nine: On the Stairs, 11
Eighty: Bartlebooth, 3
Eighty-One: Rorschach, 4
Eighty-Two: Gratiolet, 2
Eighty-Three: Hutting, 3
PART FIVE
Eighty-Four: Cinoc, 2
Eighty-Five: Berger, 2
Eighty-Six: Rorschach, 5
Eighty-Seven: Bartlebooth, 4
Eighty-Eight: Altamont, 5
Eighty-Nine: Moreau, 5
Ninety: Entrance Hall, 2
Ninety-One: Basement, 5
Ninety-Two: Louvet, 3
PART SIX
Ninety-Three: Third Floor Right, 3
Ninety-Four: On the Stairs, 12
Ninety-Five: Rorschach, 6
Ninety-Six: Dinteville, 3
Ninety-Seven: Hutting, 4
Ninety-Eight: Réol, 2
Ninety-Nine: Bartlebooth, 5
Epilogue
11, Rue Simon-Crubellier
APPENDICES
Alphabetical Checklist
Postscript
Translator’s Note
Index
Copyright
About the Author
Georges Perec (1936–82) won the Prix Renaudot in 1965 for his first novel
Things: A Story of the Sixties, and went on to exercise his unrivalled mastery of
language in almost every imaginable kind of writing, from the apparently trivial
to the deeply personal. He composed acrostics, anagrams, autobiography,
criticism, crosswords, descriptions of dreams, film scripts, heterograms,
lipograms, memories, palindromes, plays, poetry, radio plays, recipes, riddles,
stories short and long, travel notes, univocalics, and, of course, novels. Life A
User’s Manual, which draws on many of Perec’s other works, appeared in 1978
after nine years in the making and was acclaimed a masterpiece to put beside
Joyce’s Ulysses. It won the Prix Médicis and established Perec’s international
reputation.
David Bellos, the translator, is Professor of French Studies at the University of
Manchester. He is the author of several works on Balzac, and also of the prize-
winning biography Georges Perec: A Life in Words.
ALSO BY GEORGES PEREC
IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
W or the Memory of Childhood
Things: A Story of the Sixties
A Man Asleep
‘53 Days’
A Void
Three
Chronology
1833Birth of James Sherwood.
1856Birth of the Countess of Beaumont.
Birth of Corinne Marcion.
1870Birth of Grace Twinker.
Sherwoods Cough Pastilles boom.
1871Corinne Marcion enters service in Paris.
1875Rue Simon-Crubellier parcelled out for building.
1876Birth of Fernand de Beaumont.
1885Lubin Auzère completes the construction of the apartment house at No.
11.
1887IIIrd Congress of the International Union of Historical Sciences.
1891Theft of the “Vase of the Passion” from the Museum of Antiquities at
Utrecht.
1892Birth of Marie-Thérèse Moreau.
1896James Sherwood buys the “Vase of the Passion”.
1898Arrest of a ring of counterfeiters in Argentina.
1900Corinne and Honoré Marcion meet at the Universal Exhibition.
Death of James Sherwood.
Birth of Véra Orlova.
Birth of Cinoc.
Birth of Percival Bartlebooth.
1902Birth of Léon Marcia.
1903Caruso makes his debut at the Metropolitan.
1904June 16: Bloom’s Day.
Birth of Albert Massy.
1909Birth of Marcel Appenzzell.
1910Birth of Gaspard Winckler.
1911 Birth of Marguerite.
21 January: arrest of Panarchist leaders.
191426 September: Death of Olivier Gratiolet at Perthès-lez-Hurlus.
1916Birth of Hervé Nochère.
1917Birth of Clara Lichtenfeld.
Death of Juste Gratiolet.
19 May: Augustus B. Clifford and Bernard Lehameau lose their right arms
when their HQ is shelled.
1918Summary execution of all the males of the Orlov family; Véra Orlova and
her mother flee to Crimea and then to Vienna.
1919Under various names, Rémi Rorschach attempts to make a career in music
hall.
Monsieur Hardy opens a restaurant in Paris and takes on Henri Fresnel as
chef.
October: Serge Valène moves into Rue Simon-Crubellier.
1920Birth of Olivier Gratiolet.
Birth of Cyrille Altamont.
Work starts on the Upper Boubandjida mines.
1922Gaspard Winckler begins his apprenticeship with Monsieur Gouttman.
19238 May: Ferdinand Gratiolet reaches Garoua.
Léon Marcia falls ill.
1924Henri Fresnel marries Alice.
Albert Massy rides in the Giro d’Italia, then in the Tour de France.
July: Adrien Jérôme sits the agrégation examination in history; in
October, he is appointed to the Lycée Pasteur at Neuilly and moves into
Rue Simon-Crubellier.
1925Birth of Paul Hébert.
Lift installed.
Bartlebooth begins taking watercolour lessons.
15 October: Massy beats the world record for the one-hour motor-paced
time trial, but his performance is not officially recognised; on 14
November, his second attempt fails.
24 December: fire in the Danglars’s flat.
19263 January: sudden disappearance of the Danglars. One week later, they are
arrested at the Swiss border.
Ferdinand Gratiolet returns from Africa and founds an exotic-hides
business.
Jean Richepin lectures at the Pfisterhof.