An anthology of writing by members of the group known as Oulipo, among them Italo Calvino, Harry Mathews, Georges Perec, Jacques Roubaud, and Raymond Queneau. They reject inspiration, experience, self-expression to view imaginative writing as an exercise dominated by constraints; Perec's novel A Void is the most notorious example. The approach, founded in Paris in 1960 has not found fertile ground in the US. Revised from the 1986 edition published by the University of Kansas Press to include new members of the group and new translations from the French. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.