SOURCE: "Georges Perec," in French Fiction Revisited, Dalkey Archive Press, 1972, pp. 290-305.

In the following essay, Roudiez analyses the subject and style of Perec's major works. He shows the emphasis of the author's early life and his association with the OuLiPo in the recurring theme of identity.

By 1972, Perec was known for having produced four variegated works of fiction, each one seeming like the first book of different writers. Les Choses (1965; Things) is subtitled "Une histoire des années 60," a narrative that could make one think of Stendhal and his chronicle of the 1830s. If the reference was intentional, however, it could only have been ironical, for the two main characters (there is of course no "hero"), Jérôme and Sylvie, have no real ambition aside from acquiring the material "things" of the title. They are petty bourgeois who aspire to the comforts and pleasures of the...