Thursday 20 April, 6.30pm
An evening with Oplepo: surprises, inventions and literary acrobatics!
OPLEPO (OPificio di LEtteratura POtenziale, Workshop of Potential Literature) is the Italian correspondent of the French OULIPO which was founded in 1960 by writer Raymond Queneau and mathematician François Le Lionnais. Both groups include writers and mathematicians who believe that rules are a creative force in literature and not a constraint – a force conducive to writing. Thus, they are committed to creating new rules or “restrictions” (contraintes) thereby “building their own labyrinth from which they plan to escape.”
In over thirty years of activity, Oplepo has produced a large number of publications which show the potential of this approach. www.oplepo.com
Raffaele Aragona will talk about the history of Oplepo, from its foundation in 1990 to the present day, and with Elena Addòmine, Daniela Fabrizi, and Paolo Pergola will read examples of texts à contrainte, illustrating their original rules. Then Elena Addòmine will present a major work by Oplepiano Robert Viscusi: Ellis Island (Bordighera Press, New York, 2011-2013).
Finally the audience will have the opportunity to become “Oplepiani” by taking part in a workshop with Daniela Fabrizi and Paolo Pergola.
An evening of music too thanks to the London Strings ensemble, performing an antonymic music piece, introduced by Elena Addòmine.
Book HERE