Raymond Queneau has been celebrated as one of the most amusing and versatile French writers of the twentieth century. He was a poet, novelist, critic, editor, playwright, filmmaker, philosopher, mathematician, and even a painter. He is best known as a novelist whose production spans the period from surrealism to the New Novel. Except for his early participation in surrealism, Queneau kept his distance from literary movements. And, because Queneau was not in the mainstream of literary fashion, he was, until recently, given marginal attention by critics. During most of his career his work was both greeted enthusiastically and underestimated. Author of a best-seller, Zazie dans le métro (1959; translated as Zazie, 1960), for which he was awarded the Prix de l'Humour Noir, and a hit song, "Si tu t'imagines" (If You Think), Queneau delighted his public with his idiomatic expressions, his fictional game-playing and his "jocoserious" tone, though...