This book responds to the AMBruno 2021 challenge, Volume.
When we read, our minds automatically translate the written words into mental images, which come into focus through personal imagination and knowledge. Our processing is through visual association, which becomes our way of seeing. This physiological emphasis on the optical can lead to other parts of the message being side-lined.
Georges Perec wrote La vie mode d’emploi in 1978. It was translated from French into English by David Bellos and published as Life A User’s Manual. Perec was a member of Oulipo, his work explored constrained writing techniques and this new book for AMBruno adds the constraint of Volume.
The proposal for AMBruno Volume invites consideration of the quantity or power of sound. This concept provides an opportunity for an entirely new and different close reading of this classic book, allowing editing and retelling of the tale. It is now our ears that can hear and interpret character, plot and atmosphere.
Printed by Axminster Printing, edition of 20. 19 x 13mm, perfect bound, 48 pages. £25
Alasdair Pettinger, author of Perecquian Soundscapes in ‘Georges Perec’s Geographies’,
“It is such a joy to hold and I can’t help pausing to pick up and read passages out loud. Exquisite.”
Linda Parr 