Poetry, etcetera: Cleaning House

What is poetry today, and how does it fit into our lives? Through a series of intelligent, personal, and often humorous essays, the great French poet and fiction writer explores the role of poetry in society and what poetry means to each of us. This is simultaneously a profound and highly readable work on language and meaning.

Born in 1932, Jacques Roubaud is a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris X Nanterre and is one of the most accomplished members of Oulipo, the workshop for experimental writing founded by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. Roubaud has published writing in nearly all genres: prose, theater, and poetry, and he has translated Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark and contemporary American poetry into French. Among his many works are the novels Our Beautiful Heroine and The Great Fire of London; the collections of poetry La pluralité des mondes de Lewis and Mono no Aware; and a collection of essays, Poésie: récit. His works have been translated into several languages.