Forty years after the death of Georges Perec, on March 3, 1982, an unpublished work by the author will be published on Friday by Editions du Seuil. Entitled “Places”, this unfinished work with an original approach will also be available free of charge on the Internet.
Started by Georges Perec in 1969, this astonishing project consisted in describing twelve places in Paris, his hometown, each of them being depicted twice a year. A first time in situ, a second time according to his memories. But the project does not stop there.
“Once finished, each text is put in an envelope that I seal with wax,” the author explained in 1969 in a letter to Maurice Nadeau, his publisher. An experience he intended to reproduce for twelve years and supposed to end in 1980, leaving a total of 288 texts in envelopes, which he then planned to reopen. “I think that we will see there all at once the aging of the places, the aging of my writing, the aging of my memories”, he explained at the time to his editor.
Georges Perec, Prix Renaudot in 1965 for “Les Choses” and Prix Médicis in 1978 for “La vie, mode d’emploi”, finally stayed there for six years, until September 1975, which gives 133 texts. Never published, they are gathered today in “Places”, a massive work of 612 pages, a hundred color illustrations and weighing 1.3 kg.
Also available free of charge
Available in paper version at the price of 29 euros, the book will also be accessible free of charge and in full on the web. A choice supported by the writer’s cousin and beneficiary, Sylvia Richardson, also coordinator of this project. “The idea is to open Georges up to many more readers than with a paying site. Le Seuil was convinced. I am grateful to them for making this bet,” she explained to AFP, acknowledging that commercially it turns out to be risky.
It only remains to dive into these texts and the memories of Georges Perec. A book that required four years of work to transcribe and order all of this literary experience.