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Children of Clay
Long considered a writer's writer, Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) has gradually come to be recognized as one of the major voices in twentieth-century literature.
Queneau's fifth novel, Les Enfants du limon, was published in 1938. It is an extraordinary novel, stretching the boundaries of the genre, and has been called the masterpiece of Queneau's pre-war period. Queneau says of the "The plot involves three groups of one formed by the grocer Gramigni, devoted to Saint Anthony of Padua, the maid Clemence, who plays the piano, young Bossu, of bitter destiny, and the humble folk of La Ciotat, where the story begins; the second, by the various members of the Claye-Chambernac-Hachamoth family, wealthy industrialists prey to various eccentricities...; the third, by M. Chambernac and his secretary Purpulan, a 'poor devil.'" All of this is spun against a subtly-drawn allegorical background. Realism and social criticism intermingle with fantasy, while the boundary between lunacy and sanity is increasingly called into question by the irrational activities of the children of Claye.
Queneau's fifth novel, Les Enfants du limon, was published in 1938. It is an extraordinary novel, stretching the boundaries of the genre, and has been called the masterpiece of Queneau's pre-war period. Queneau says of the "The plot involves three groups of one formed by the grocer Gramigni, devoted to Saint Anthony of Padua, the maid Clemence, who plays the piano, young Bossu, of bitter destiny, and the humble folk of La Ciotat, where the story begins; the second, by the various members of the Claye-Chambernac-Hachamoth family, wealthy industrialists prey to various eccentricities...; the third, by M. Chambernac and his secretary Purpulan, a 'poor devil.'" All of this is spun against a subtly-drawn allegorical background. Realism and social criticism intermingle with fantasy, while the boundary between lunacy and sanity is increasingly called into question by the irrational activities of the children of Claye.
420 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
7 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Raymond Queneau
218 books593 followersNovelist, poet, and critic Raymond Queneau, was born in Le Havre in 1903, and went to Paris when he was 17. For some time he joined André Breton's Surrealist group, but after only a brief stint he dissociated himself. Now, seeing Queneau's work in retrospect, it seems inevitable. The Surrealists tried to achieve a sort of pure expression from the unconscious, without mediation of the author's self-aware "persona." Queneau's texts, on the contrary, are quite deliberate products of the author's conscious mind, of his memory, and his intentionality.
Although Queneau's novels give an impression of enormous spontaneity, they were in fact painstakingly conceived in every small detail. He even once remarked that he simply could not leave to hazard the task of determining the number of chapters of a book. Talking about his first novel, Le Chiendent (usually translated as The Bark Tree), he pointed out that it had 91 sections, because 91 was the sum of the first 13 numbers, and also the product of two numbers he was particularly fond of: 7 and 13.
Although Queneau's novels give an impression of enormous spontaneity, they were in fact painstakingly conceived in every small detail. He even once remarked that he simply could not leave to hazard the task of determining the number of chapters of a book. Talking about his first novel, Le Chiendent (usually translated as The Bark Tree), he pointed out that it had 91 sections, because 91 was the sum of the first 13 numbers, and also the product of two numbers he was particularly fond of: 7 and 13.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 9, 2022
Amongst the very unusual novels by Raymond Queneau Children of Clay is the most unusual.
We all live in the same beautiful world…
Some believe in God and try to obtain God’s propitiousness with prayer…
Some believe in the squaring of the circle and try to award humankind with a scientific gift…
Those who try to petition God and those who attempt to square the circle: who are crazier?
We all live in the same beautiful world…
It was a splendid time when money shone in the sun like crushed glass, watering in abundance this beautiful old dry Provence, where the weather’s good all four seasons of the year, where harmony resounds from the violet indigo blue sky to the green, yellow, orangey, red earth.
Some believe in God and try to obtain God’s propitiousness with prayer…
Gramigni invokes Saint Anthony of Padua.
If you seek miracles
in the sole name of Saint Anthony
death error calamities
demons and leprosy flee
the sick are healed
the sea obeys
chains are broken
health returns.
Some believe in the squaring of the circle and try to award humankind with a scientific gift…
“Come, come,” said Chambernac, “don’t act so mysterious. I’m sure there’s something fishy going on.”
“Oh, take your fish and shove it up your ass,” said Purpulan, “and leave me the hell alone…”
Purpulan bowed his head like a good boy, then leaning in the direction of the Chambernacian ear that was closest to him, whispered into it these words:
“Monsieur Chambernac, I’m on the verge of discovering how to square the circle.”
Those who try to petition God and those who attempt to square the circle: who are crazier?
November 20, 2012
Queneau’s broadest, longest, most complex, and most profound novel, Les Enfants du limon is a Dostoevskian family epic by way of the headmaster Oulipian’s characteristically eccentric imagination and verbal fireworks. It is a masterpiece that comes early in his career (his fifth novel, nine years before Exercises In Style), but it shows all that Queneau is and was to be capable of and then some. Literary styles collide and ricochet, levels of relation and reality are layered, lists, haute slapstick, and obsessive wordplay abound. There’s even a cameo from everyone’s favorite parasitic dwarf, Bébé Toutou (who previously appeared in Queneau’s first novel, the ever-bewitching Witch Grass).
I refer to Les Enfants du limon by the original French title with reason: limon is the word in the French Bible used to connote the dust of the Earth from which God wrought man; “clay” works fine, too, and the Claye family (the cognomen of this translation) around which this book revolves has its own particular fall from Eden- an odd aristocratic lineage which loses its stature in two falls, actually- the Great Depression and a suicide. But the connection to the Bible, and to ancient texts in general, is extremely important. The core of the book is Chambernac’s The Encyclopedia of Inexact Sciences, a bibliographical and biographical study of “literary lunatics” of the 19th century. This catalog of historical oddballs, messianic maniacs, delusional quacks, and crackpot intellectuals gains in resonance and relation to the mass of characters Queaneau has assembled until, by the end of the book, one is wondering what place the Claye-Chambernac-Hachamoth clan is going to take in The Encyclopedia of Literary Lunatics of the 20th Century, if it should be written (has it?)... The origin and treatment of madness, a philosophy of the origin of pain, the nature of religious belief or lack of, the existence of evil, fate, luck, all begin to take hold of this family story, and certain threads begin to be strewn between the vanished lunatics of the past and the mild lunatics we see living out the turmoil of the 1930’s in Paris. I have to think it is absolutely no accident either that Queneau with this novel, written from 1930-38 in Paris, next door to an increasingly menacing Germany, evokes his deepest musings on the darker natures of man. But don’t let that fact persuade you that this book is heavy or somber in any way. It is Queneau true to the heart- hilarious, strange, surreal, brilliant and mind-bending and rooted to human experience all at the same moment.
And everything becomes stranger still with the knowledge that all of the “literary lunatics” of the 19th century that feature in this novel were real! Every one of the unbelievably mad texts cited by Chambernac were actually found by Queneau in various libraries around Paris. After breaking with Breton and the Surrealists in 1929, Queneau spent years redefining his relationship to literature. In that time he unearthed mounds of material on these mad geniuses from the past and compiled them into his own encyclopedic work, but finding no willing publisher, decided in turn to embed his years of research into a novel. A lovely wink to this failed publishing effort comes at the end of Les Enfants du limon, which also, I must say, ends with one of the strangest and most striking sentences I’ve ever come across. To find out what I mean you have to go and read this book for yourself. If you haven’t yet let yourself be immersed in Queneau’s genius, this is not a bad place to begin. It might be his best book.
I refer to Les Enfants du limon by the original French title with reason: limon is the word in the French Bible used to connote the dust of the Earth from which God wrought man; “clay” works fine, too, and the Claye family (the cognomen of this translation) around which this book revolves has its own particular fall from Eden- an odd aristocratic lineage which loses its stature in two falls, actually- the Great Depression and a suicide. But the connection to the Bible, and to ancient texts in general, is extremely important. The core of the book is Chambernac’s The Encyclopedia of Inexact Sciences, a bibliographical and biographical study of “literary lunatics” of the 19th century. This catalog of historical oddballs, messianic maniacs, delusional quacks, and crackpot intellectuals gains in resonance and relation to the mass of characters Queaneau has assembled until, by the end of the book, one is wondering what place the Claye-Chambernac-Hachamoth clan is going to take in The Encyclopedia of Literary Lunatics of the 20th Century, if it should be written (has it?)... The origin and treatment of madness, a philosophy of the origin of pain, the nature of religious belief or lack of, the existence of evil, fate, luck, all begin to take hold of this family story, and certain threads begin to be strewn between the vanished lunatics of the past and the mild lunatics we see living out the turmoil of the 1930’s in Paris. I have to think it is absolutely no accident either that Queneau with this novel, written from 1930-38 in Paris, next door to an increasingly menacing Germany, evokes his deepest musings on the darker natures of man. But don’t let that fact persuade you that this book is heavy or somber in any way. It is Queneau true to the heart- hilarious, strange, surreal, brilliant and mind-bending and rooted to human experience all at the same moment.
And everything becomes stranger still with the knowledge that all of the “literary lunatics” of the 19th century that feature in this novel were real! Every one of the unbelievably mad texts cited by Chambernac were actually found by Queneau in various libraries around Paris. After breaking with Breton and the Surrealists in 1929, Queneau spent years redefining his relationship to literature. In that time he unearthed mounds of material on these mad geniuses from the past and compiled them into his own encyclopedic work, but finding no willing publisher, decided in turn to embed his years of research into a novel. A lovely wink to this failed publishing effort comes at the end of Les Enfants du limon, which also, I must say, ends with one of the strangest and most striking sentences I’ve ever come across. To find out what I mean you have to go and read this book for yourself. If you haven’t yet let yourself be immersed in Queneau’s genius, this is not a bad place to begin. It might be his best book.
July 6, 2011
Les Enfants du limon emerged in 1939, the fifth of nine novels in a decade of tireless creative energy for the Parisian polymath. Unlike the other OuLiPo originals, Queneau had a solid body of work behind him before co-inventing potential literature, using the group as a springboard for ideas, to launch him into superstellar orbit. His output of poetry, essays and songs is far greater post-1960, though his corpus of novels act as fine exemplars of the OuLiPo methods—methods that would seep into postmodern literature throughout the sixties and beyond.
This novel perfects the sharp comedic timing and pace found in later novels Zazie dans le metro and Pierrot mon ami, while indulging the bibliographical hobbyism common in his early life as part-time philosopher and reformed Surrealist. Our protagonist, M. Chambernac, is working on an encyclopaedia of French “literary lunatics” in the 19thC, and hires trickster Purpulan to do the cataloguing and secretarial work. As he completes his work (of which vast screeds are reproduced here), he finds his own mind teetering off-piste, and discovers the real lunacy may be closer to home.
As in all Queneau novels, there are multiple plots and characters: here centred round the (im)moral figure of Chambernac, his cousins, children, former workers. What dazzles here are the dialogues, poems and scenes, sinister demonic undercurrents and violent realist flashes—all unique to Queneau’s world, all packaged in exquisite humour and endless play. The ending alone is worth the slow, tiring slog through old texts: as the game unravels, Queneau is one step ahead of the reader at every turn, and the final pages bloom with the divine efflorescence that is Great Literature. (Thanks Mike!)
This novel perfects the sharp comedic timing and pace found in later novels Zazie dans le metro and Pierrot mon ami, while indulging the bibliographical hobbyism common in his early life as part-time philosopher and reformed Surrealist. Our protagonist, M. Chambernac, is working on an encyclopaedia of French “literary lunatics” in the 19thC, and hires trickster Purpulan to do the cataloguing and secretarial work. As he completes his work (of which vast screeds are reproduced here), he finds his own mind teetering off-piste, and discovers the real lunacy may be closer to home.
As in all Queneau novels, there are multiple plots and characters: here centred round the (im)moral figure of Chambernac, his cousins, children, former workers. What dazzles here are the dialogues, poems and scenes, sinister demonic undercurrents and violent realist flashes—all unique to Queneau’s world, all packaged in exquisite humour and endless play. The ending alone is worth the slow, tiring slog through old texts: as the game unravels, Queneau is one step ahead of the reader at every turn, and the final pages bloom with the divine efflorescence that is Great Literature. (Thanks Mike!)
November 17, 2021
Роман 1938 года, но читается как вчера написанный. Перевод ОК, со смешными подарками, но и с недочетами явно от отсутствия редактуры (например, анахронистические речевые обороты, вошедшие в оборот в 90х, или переизбыток местоимений, или не вполне грамотные переводы выражений на английском). Не Кислов, конечно, но уж что есть.
Сам роман крайне причудлив и капризен, примерно как романы Фланна О'Брайена. Что-то такое в самом воздухе 30х двигало и питало постмодернизм: то ли последствия Первой войны, то ли предчувствие Второй.
А из многих подарков здесь чуть ли не лучше всего фраза: "Или метр в диаметре, или из говна". Пресловутые же "французские литературные безумцы 19 века" просто пытались так или иначе прорваться к недуальности через ригоризм мышления своего времени; и конспекты о них - едва ли не самая интересная составляющая романа.
Сам роман крайне причудлив и капризен, примерно как романы Фланна О'Брайена. Что-то такое в самом воздухе 30х двигало и питало постмодернизм: то ли последствия Первой войны, то ли предчувствие Второй.
А из многих подарков здесь чуть ли не лучше всего фраза: "Или метр в диаметре, или из говна". Пресловутые же "французские литературные безумцы 19 века" просто пытались так или иначе прорваться к недуальности через ригоризм мышления своего времени; и конспекты о них - едва ли не самая интересная составляющая романа.
January 11, 2018
been wanting to check some more RQ ever since I read his Exercises In Style a few years back and this was one if the most obscure titles in translation on goodreads. Queneau is a truly great writer and the 38 book is packed with experimentation in both form and narrative. Chambernac and Purpulan are really strong characters, a fascinating riff on the double act and of the same kind of intriguing darkness as, say, Higsmith's Ripley character. theres a host of characters here and some - Gramigi, Bossu jr and the Baron for example - are great and jump off the page providing a lot of laughs - some of them guilty. Queneau digresses via one of these characters into endless quotes from 'literary lunatics' which really slowed down the pace. these digressions are often quite fascinatingly weird (a bear forms a satanic trinity with two men, the sun is composed of excrement etc) though i ended up resenting these sections for interrupting the flow of rum dialogue and action which stands up to Sciascia and Sartre - tho Queneau is too restless a writer to really tell a story. worth the effort and deserves a reprint
July 6, 2007
this book contains the other book, "the encyclopedia of literary lunatics of the nineteenth century," and so there really is no reason for you to waste your time reading this little blurb when you could be spending it reading the book instead so stop this stop it now and go do something else.
January 7, 2012
The novel abound in neologisms, wordlplay and ripping humor. It does lack soul and the reader my find a dearth of sympathy for most of the characters as well as the erudition towards literary lunatics.
July 14, 2007
Very French.
April 9, 2024
Children of Claye is a curious amalgam. Part of the work tells the story of a wealthy early 20th Century French family and their connections to several villagers in the town in which the family vacations. It follows this family through their declining fortunes in the Great Depression, focusing on their engagement with the politics of the time and the villagers who admire them. The other part of the work is a lightly magical realist vehicle to deliver excerpts from the author’s research into insane French writers of the 19th Century. It chronicles a high school principal’s efforts to create an encyclopedia of such writers (whom he dubs “literary lunatics”) with the help of a minor devil.
The writing is mildly experimental and periodically transforms into doggerel verse and wild wordplay. The tone is generally light and witty until it becomes more dour. I liked the synthetic nature of the work, but found the literary lunatics’ scribblings to be, with a few exceptions, routine conspiracy theories, illogical conjectures, and other largely uninteresting writings. Moreover, the lunatics’ work lacked sufficient connection to the themes of the rest of the work, character tension is repeatedly defused in simple ways, and several characters deserved more development and arc. I found it worth reading, but not engaging in the ways I had hoped.
The writing is mildly experimental and periodically transforms into doggerel verse and wild wordplay. The tone is generally light and witty until it becomes more dour. I liked the synthetic nature of the work, but found the literary lunatics’ scribblings to be, with a few exceptions, routine conspiracy theories, illogical conjectures, and other largely uninteresting writings. Moreover, the lunatics’ work lacked sufficient connection to the themes of the rest of the work, character tension is repeatedly defused in simple ways, and several characters deserved more development and arc. I found it worth reading, but not engaging in the ways I had hoped.
August 3, 2021
What a surprising, bizarre book. It starts out fine but rather uninteresting, then becomes truly intriguing when the passages from "literary lunatics" start to be quoted. The quoted works are wonderful, all so unique and bizarre, and Queneau's writing is varied in odd ways, turning into poetry without warning and exhibiting many strange formal quirks in the prose. The best thing I can say about this book is that the more I read the more I wanted to and when I was done, I immediately went to the translator's preface to figure out what had just happened, then I went looking for more explanation in secondary literature.
January 30, 2020
La prima e l'ultima parte sono folgoranti. La parte centrale (purtroppo ampia) è appesantita dalla descrizione dei pazzi letterari.
September 29, 2024
Queneau shows up at the end of this wacky novel to take a manuscript from a fictional character based on Queneau.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews