Hortense in Exile

by Jacques Roubaud, Dominic Di Bernardi (Translator)

Overview

— First paperback edition.
— Hortense is in trouble again. Set to marry the Premier Prince Presumptive, our heroine finds herself caught in the middle of the plot of Hamlet, playing the unfortunate role of Ophelia. Can she escape in time? Brimming with brilliant wordplay, mathematical equations, literary allusions, and cats, Hortense in Exile continues the Hortense series in grand style.
— Jacques Roubaud is president of the l'Association Georges Perec, a society dedicated to honoring the work of his fellow Oulipian.
— First published in the U.S. by Dalkey Archive (1992).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781564782557
Publisher:	Deep Vellum Publishing
Publication date:	11/28/2000
Series:	French Literature Series
Pages:	211
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Jacques Roubaud, born in 1932, has been a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre. He is one of the most accomplished members of the Oulipo, the workshop for experimental literature founded by Raymond Queneau and Francois Le Lionnais. He is the author of numerous books of prose, theatre and poetry.

In addition to several of Jacques Roubaud s books, Dominic Di Bernardi has translated works by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Muriel Cerf, Claude Ollier, and Patrick Grainville, among others.

Editorial Reviews

"For anyone whose mind has wandered while perusing France's more tedious linguistic moil, Hortense will restore faith in the nation's esprit."-- PW

Dalkey Archive Press

"This delightfully unconventional novel, Roubard's third work featuring Hortense, takes up where Hortense Is Abducted left off." -- LJ

Dalkey Archive Press

From the Publisher

Despite the trials she suffered during the course of Our Beautiful Heroine and Hortense Is Abducted , the voluptuous Hortense is back, this time as the fiancee of the Poldevian Presumed Premier Prince. Her Prince Gormanskoi, however, finds himself playing the role of Hamlet, leaving Hortense alone with only the cat sage Alexandresic Vladimirovitch standing between her and inevitable misadventure. Poldevia, a land ``populated, very likely since the Neolithic Age, by bandits and mustaches,'' is not one world but six co-existent worlds, one of which is under the sway of a prince whose evil intentions have carried over from Hortense Is Abducted . What next? It hardly matters. For Roubaud, a French mathematics professor and member of OuLiPo ( Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle ), the question is not where you're going but how you get there. His route is strewn with epenthesesOK , anagrams, songs, references to fellow Oulipians and asides--from commentator, printer, publisher, author, reviewer and the novel itself. For anyone whose mind has wandered while perusing France's more tedious linguistic moil, Hortense will restore faith in the nation's esprit . (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This delightfully unconventional novel, Roubard's third work featuring Hortense, takes up where Hortense Is Abducted ( LJ 6/15/89) left off . The attractive young fiancee of Prince Gormanskoi of Poldavia, Hortense enjoys a sexy romp through myriad subplots among a cast of characters mirroring those in various Shakespearean plays, most notably Hamlet. Her trials and tribulations in this imaginary kingdom incorporate mathematical permutations and extrapolations that suggest the French author's mathematical background. As the plot lurches along, nothing is sacred; Roubard lambastes a wide range of earthly concerns, including the environment, libraries, sartorial convention, and male chauvinism. These pungent asides, which in fact constitute the heart of the book, will tickle the ribs of readers willing to contend with the convoluted plot. The author hints at a sequel. Recommended for public and academic libraries. --Mary Ellen Beck, Troy P.L., N.Y.

Library Journal