Queneau, Raymond 1903–1976

A French novelist, playwright, poet, screenwriter, essayist, editor, and critic, Queneau was a master of colloquial speech, slang, and varied rhetorical devices. Like Joyce, he was concerned with the relationship between written and spoken language, and he continually toyed with the conventions of written French. Viewing literature as a category of speech, Queneau attacked traditional rhetoric through parody, and his works are imbued with the surrealist's taste for the ridiculous aspects of ordinary existence. (See also CLC, Vols. 2, 5, and Contemporary Authors, obituary, Vols. 69-72.)