Life: A User's Manual Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Author

  Also by Georges Perec

  Chronology

  Dedication

  Title Page

  Preamble

  PART ONE

  One: On the Stairs, 1

  Two: Beaumont, 1

  Three: Third Floor Right, 1

  Four: Marquiseaux, 1

  Five: Foulerot, 1

  Six: Breidel (Servants’ Quarters, 1)

  Seven: Morellet (Servants’ Quarters, 2)

  Eight: Winckler, 1

  Nine: Nieto and Rogers (Servants’ Quarters, 3)

  Ten: Jane Sutton (Servants’ Quarters, 4)

  Eleven: Hutting, 1

  Twelve: Réol, 1

  Thirteen: Rorschach, 1

  Fourteen: Dinteville, 1

  Fifteen: Smautf (Servants’ Quarters, 5)

  Sixteen: Célia Crespi (Servants’ Quarters, 6)

  Seventeen: On the Stairs, 2

  Eighteen: Rorschach, 2

  Nineteen: Altamont, 1

  Twenty: Moreau, 1

  Twenty-One: In the Boiler Room, 1

  PART TWO

  Twenty-Two: Entrance Hall, 1

  Twenty-Three: Moreau, 2

  Twenty-Four: Marcia, 1

  Twenty-Five: Altamont, 2

  Twenty-Six: Bartlebooth, 1

  Twenty-Seven: Rorschach, 3

  Twenty-Eight: On the Stairs, 3

  Twenty-Nine: Third Floor Right, 2

  Thirty: Marquiseaux, 2

  Thirty-One: Beaumont, 3

  Thirty-Two: Marcia, 2

  Thirty-Three: Basement, 1

  Thirty-Four: On the Stairs, 4

  Thirty-Five: The Concierge’s Office

  Thirty-Six: On the Stairs, 5

  Thirty-Seven: Louvet, 1

  Thirty-Eight: Lift Machinery, 1

  Thirty-Nine: Marcia, 3

  Forty: Beaumont, 4

  Forty-One: Marquiseaux, 3

  Forty-Two: On the Stairs, 6

  Forty-Three: Foulerot, 2

  Forty-Four: Winckler, 2

  Forty-Five: Plassaert, 1

  PART THREE

  Forty-Six: Monsieur Jérôme (Servants’ Quarters, 7)

  Forty-Seven: Dinteville, 2

  Forty-Eight: Madame Albin (Servants’ Quarters, 8)

  Forty-Nine: On the Stairs, 7

  Fifty: Foulerot, 3

  The Fifty-First: Valène (Servants’ Quarters, 9)

  Fifty-Two: Plassaert, 2

  Fifty-Three: Winckler, 3

  Fifty-Four: Plassaert, 3

  Fifty-Five: Fresnel (Servants’ Quarters, 10)

  Fifty-Six: On the Stairs, 8

  Fifty-Seven: Madame Orlowska (Servants’ Quarters, 11)

  Fifty-Eight: Gratiolet, 1

  Fifty-Nine: Hutting, 2

  Sixty: Cinoc, 1

  Sixty-One: Berger, 1

  Sixty-Two: Altamont, 3

  Sixty-Three: Service Entrance

  Sixty-Four: In the Boiler Room, 2

  PART FOUR

  Sixty-Five: Moreau, 3

  Sixty-Six: Marcia, 4

  Sixty-Seven: Basement, 2

  Sixty-Eight: On the Stairs, 9

  Sixty-Nine: Altamont, 4

  Seventy: Bartlebooth, 2

  Seventy-One: Moreau, 4

  Seventy-Two: Basement, 3

  Seventy-Three: Marcia, 5

  Seventy-Four: Lift Machinery, 2

  Seventy-Five: Marcia, 6

  Seventy-Six: Basement, 4

  Seventy-Seven: Louvet, 2

  Seventy-Eight: On the Stairs, 10

  Seventy-Nine: On the Stairs, 11

  Eighty: Bartlebooth, 3

  Eighty-One: Rorschach, 4

  Eighty-Two: Gratiolet, 2

  Eighty-Three: Hutting, 3

  PART FIVE

  Eighty-Four: Cinoc, 2

  Eighty-Five: Berger, 2

  Eighty-Six: Rorschach, 5

  Eighty-Seven: Bartlebooth, 4

  Eighty-Eight: Altamont, 5

  Eighty-Nine: Moreau, 5

  Ninety: Entrance Hall, 2

  Ninety-One: Basement, 5

  Ninety-Two: Louvet, 3

  PART SIX

  Ninety-Three: Third Floor Right, 3

  Ninety-Four: On the Stairs, 12

  Ninety-Five: Rorschach, 6

  Ninety-Six: Dinteville, 3

  Ninety-Seven: Hutting, 4

  Ninety-Eight: Réol, 2

  Ninety-Nine: Bartlebooth, 5

  Epilogue

  11, Rue Simon-Crubellier

  APPENDICES

  Alphabetical Checklist

  Postscript

  Translator’s Note

  Index

  Copyright

  About the Author

  * * *

  Georges Perec (1936–82) won the Prix Renaudot in 1965 for his first novel Things: A Story of the Sixties, and went on to exercise his unrivalled mastery of language in almost every imaginable kind of writing, from the apparently trivial to the deeply personal. He composed acrostics, anagrams, autobiography, criticism, crosswords, descriptions of dreams, film scripts, heterograms, lipograms, memories, palindromes, plays, poetry, radio plays, recipes, riddles, stories short and long, travel notes, univocalics, and, of course, novels. Life A User’s Manual, which draws on many of Perec’s other works, appeared in 1978 after nine years in the making and was acclaimed a masterpiece to put beside Joyce’s Ulysses. It won the Prix Médicis and established Perec’s international reputation.

  David Bellos, the translator, is Professor of French Studies at the University of Manchester. He is the author of several works on Balzac, and also of the prize-winning biography Georges Perec: A Life in Words.

  ALSO BY GEORGES PEREC

  IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION

  W or the Memory of Childhood

  Things: A Story of the Sixties

  A Man Asleep

  ‘53 Days’

  A Void

  Three

  Chronology

  1833 Birth of James Sherwood.

  1856 Birth of the Countess of Beaumont.

  Birth of Corinne Marcion.

  1870 Birth of Grace Twinker.

  Sherwoods Cough Pastilles boom.

  1871 Corinne Marcion enters service in Paris.

  1875 Rue Simon-Crubellier parcelled out for building.

  1876 Birth of Fernand de Beaumont.

  1885 Lubin Auzère completes the construction of the apartment house at No. 11.

  1887 IIIrd Congress of the International Union of Historical Sciences.

  1891 Theft of the “Vase of the Passion” from the Museum of Antiquities at Utrecht.

  1892 Birth of Marie-Thérèse Moreau.

  1896 James Sherwood buys the “Vase of the Passion”.

  1898 Arrest of a ring of counterfeiters in Argentina.

  1900 Corinne and Honoré Marcion meet at the Universal Exhibition.

  Death of James Sherwood.

  Birth of Véra Orlova.

  Birth of Cinoc.

  Birth of Percival Bartlebooth.

  1902 Birth of Léon Marcia.

  1903 Caruso makes his debut at the Metropolitan.

  1904 June 16: Bloom’s Day.

  Birth of Albert Massy.

  1909 Birth of Marcel Appenzzell.

  1910 Birth of Gaspard Winckler.

  1911 Birth of Marguerite.

  21 January: arrest of Panarchist leaders.

  1914 26 September: Death of Olivier Gratiolet at Perthès-lez-Hurlus.

  1916 Birth of Hervé Nochère.

  1917 Birth of Clara Lichtenfeld.

  Death of Juste Gratiolet.

  19 May: Augustus B. Clifford and Bernard Lehameau lose their right arms when their HQ is shelled.r />
  1918 Summary execution of all the males of the Orlov family; Véra Orlova and her mother flee to Crimea and then to Vienna.

  1919 Under various names, Rémi Rorschach attempts to make a career in music hall.

  Monsieur Hardy opens a restaurant in Paris and takes on Henri Fresnel as chef.

  October: Serge Valène moves into Rue Simon-Crubellier.

  1920 Birth of Olivier Gratiolet.

  Birth of Cyrille Altamont.

  Work starts on the Upper Boubandjida mines.

  1922 Gaspard Winckler begins his apprenticeship with Monsieur Gouttman.

  1923 8 May: Ferdinand Gratiolet reaches Garoua.

  Léon Marcia falls ill.

  1924 Henri Fresnel marries Alice.

  Albert Massy rides in the Giro d’Italia, then in the Tour de France.

  July: Adrien Jérôme sits the agrégation examination in history; in October, he is appointed to the Lycée Pasteur at Neuilly and moves into Rue Simon-Crubellier.

  1925 Birth of Paul Hébert.

  Lift installed.

  Bartlebooth begins taking watercolour lessons.

  15 October: Massy beats the world record for the one-hour motor-paced time trial, but his performance is not officially recognised; on 14 November, his second attempt fails.

  24 December: fire in the Danglars’s flat.

  1926 3 January: sudden disappearance of the Danglars. One week later, they are arrested at the Swiss border.

  Ferdinand Gratiolet returns from Africa and founds an exotic-hides business.

  Jean Richepin lectures at the Pfisterhof.

  26 November: Fernand de Beaumont marries Véra Orlova.

  1927 The Pfisterhof patients subscribe to a scholarship to allow Léon Marcia to pursue his studies.

  1928 Rémi Rorschach begins his African adventure.

  1929 Death of Gouttman.

  Birth of Blanche Gardel.

  Birth of Elizabeth de Beaumont; Véra Orlova tours North America.

  Cat Spade wins the Combined Forces’ boxing tournament.

  Bartlebooth buys a flat at 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier.

  March: Gaspard Winckler arrives in Paris; in October, he enlists and leaves for Morocco.

  October: Henri Fresnel abandons his restaurant.

  1930 Fernand de Beaumont begins excavating at Oviedo.

  Léon Marcia begins to publish.

  January: birth of Ghislain Fresnel.

  Birth of Madame Nochère.

  Birth of Olivia Norvell.

  November: Gaspard Winckler, discharged from military service, meets Marguerite at Marseilles.

  1931 April: fire at Ferdinand Gratiolet’s exotic-hides warehouse.

  May: Marc Gratiolet passes the agrégation in philosophy.

  1932 Marcel Appenzzell leaves for Sumatra.

  Rémi Rorschach’s novel, African Gold, is published.

  Death of Ferdinand Gratiolet in Argentina.

  Gaspard and Marguerite Winckler move into 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier.

  Henri Fresnel’s troupe breaks up.

  1934 Mme Hourcade makes 500 black boxes for Bartlebooth’s future jigsaw puzzles.

  Birth of Joseph Nieto.

  March: Death of Emile Gratiolet.

  3 September: Death of Gérard Gratiolet.

  1935 Death of Madame Hébert.

  January: Bartlebooth paints his first watercolour at Gijón.

  August: end of excavations at Oviedo.

  11 September: murder of Antoine Brodin in Florida; in the following weeks, Hélène Brodin tracks down and executes his three murderers.

  12 November: suicide of Fernand de Beaumont; he is buried on 16 Nov. at Lédignan, in the presence of Bartlebooth, who returns specially from Corsica.

  1936 Bartlebooth in Europe; in March, Scotland (Isle of Skye).

  Birth of Michel Claveau.

  Birth of Célia Crespi’s son.

  1937 Bartlebooth in Europe; in July, on board his yacht The Halcyon, he follows the Yugoslav coast from Trieste to Dubrovnik, with Serge Valène, Marguerite and Gaspard Winckler as his guests; in December, he is at Cap São Vicente (Portugal).

  April: Henri Fresnel sets off for Brazil.

  Lino Margay marries Josette Massy.

  1938 Bartlebooth in Africa; in February, Hammamet; in June, Alexandria.

  15 March: Anschluss.

  Death of Henri Gratiolet.

  Marcel Appenzzell arrives in Paris.

  1939 January: Smautf buys a tricephalous crucifix in the Agadir souk.

  March: Marcel Appenzzell returns to Sumatra.

  April: Josette Margay returns to live with her brother; Lino

  Margay meets Ferri the Eyetie en route to South America.

  August: Bartlebooth reaches Kenya; on the 10th, Smautf dines at Mr Macklin’s.

  1940 Bartlebooth in Africa.

  François-Pierre LaJoie struck off the medical register.

  April: Henri Fresnel reaches New York, where he is taken on as cook by Grace Twinker.

  20 May: Olivier Gratiolet taken prisoner.

  6 June: Death of Marie-Thérèse Moreau’s husband.

  1941 Bartlebooth in Africa.

  7 December: Pearl Harbor attacked.

  1942 Bartlebooth in Africa.

  Operation “Cyclops” in Normandy.

  Battle of the Coral Sea.

  Death of Anne Voltimand, Gaspard Winckler’s sister.

  18 April: Marc Gratiolet appointed to the staff of Fernand de Brinon; in May, takes steps to have Olivier released.

  June: Lino Margay leaves prison.

  1943 Bartlebooth in South America.

  Death of Louis Gratiolet.

  23 June: assassination of Ordnance General Pferdleichter.

  14 July: imaginary birth of the five Trévins sisters.

  7 October: arrest of Paul Hébert.

  November: death of Marguerite Winckler.

  1944 Bartlebooth in South America.

  May: death of Grégoire Voltimand on the Garigliano.

  June: Mme Appenzzell killed near Vassieux-en-Vercors.

  June: Marc Gratiolet murdered in Lyons.

  July: Albert Massy returns from Compulsory Labour Service.

  August: Liberation of Paris; death of Célia Crespi’s son.

  September: Troyan returns to Paris.

  1945 Bartlebooth in Central America.

  Elizabeth de Beaumont runs away from her mother.

  Birth of Elzbieta Orlowska.

  Paul Hébert liberated.

  Anti-French riots in Damascus; death of René Albin.

  The chemist Wehsal turned around by the US as part of Operation Paperclip.

  Lino Margay, transfigured, comes back for Josette.

  Léon and Clara Marcia move into Rue Simon-Crubellier; Clara buys Massy’s saddlery and turns it into a curio shop.

  1946 Bartlebooth in North America.

  Birth of David Marcia.

  Birth of Caroline Echard.

  Flora Albin repatriated.

  26 January: Olivia Norvell marries Jeremy Bishop; on 7 February, she leaves him, and Australia, for the US.

  1947 Death of Hélène Brodin.

  Cinoc moves into Rue Simon-Crubellier.

  1948 Bartlebooth in North America; November, Santa Catalina Island (California).

  Fire at the Rueil Palace cinema: François and Marthe Gratiolet amongst those killed.

  Ingeborg Skrifter and Blunt Stanley meet.

  1949 Bartlebooth in Asia.

  Birth of Ethel Rogers.

  November: death of the Honorés.

  November: Count Della Marsa commissions the Ballets Frère; in December, Blanche Gardel goes to London to have an abortion; suicide of Maximilien Riccetti.

  1950 Bartlebooth in Asia.

  Birth of Valentin Collot, called Young Riri.

  Olivia Norvell makes her last two feature films.

  July: Blunt Stanley leaves for Korea; a few weeks later, he deserts.

  1951 Bartlebooth in Asia; Oc
tober, Okinawa.

  Death of Grace Twinker.

  April: marriage of Cyrille Altamont and Blanche Gardel; in May, they move into 11 Rue Simon-Crubellier; almost simultaneously, Cyrille Altamont joins BIDREM and leaves for Geneva.

  1952 Bartlebooth in Oceania; February, Solomon Islands; October, Tasmania.

  Ingeborg, Blunt, and Carlos arrive in Paris.

  Paul Hébert returns to Rue Simon-Crubellier after treatment in a sanatorium and meets Laetizia Grifalconi.

  1953 Bartlebooth in the Indian Ocean; in the Seychelles, Smautf swaps his crucifix for a statue of the tricephalous Mother-Goddess.

  11 June: accidental (or intentional) death of Erik Ericsson; flight of Elizabeth de Beaumont; suicide of Ewa Ericsson; on 13 June, Sven Ericsson finds the two corpses; at the same period, François Breidel leaves Arlon.

  1954 Bartlebooth and Smautf cross Turkey, the Black Sea, the USSR up as far as the Arctic Circle, then follow the Norwegian coast; on 21 December, Bartlebooth paints his last seascape at Brouwershaven; on the 24th, he is back in Paris.

  Sven Ericsson identifies Elizabeth de Beaumont.

  April: Ingeborg Stanley and Aurelio Lopez murdered.

  1955 Bartlebooth begins to assemble the puzzles made by Gaspard Winckler.

  Death of Michel Claveau.

  Kléber enters service with Bartlebooth.

  Elizabeth de Beaumont hides in the Cévennes.

  Hervé Nochère dies in Algeria.

  October: Paul Hébert transferred to Mazamet.

  1956 The Claveaus leave the concierge’s office, which is taken over by Mme Nochère.

  Lise and Charles Berger meet at a recital by Gilbert Bécaud. Olivier Gratiolet is recalled to Algeria and is blown up by a land mine.

  July: publication of Pirandello’s In the Abyss in No. 40 of Les Lettres nouvelles.

  July: Elzbieta Orlowska meets Boubaker at a summer camp at Parçay-les-Pins.

  1957 February: Countess of Beaumont dies at the age of 101.

  June: Elizabeth de Beaumont meets François Breidel; they marry in August, at Valence.

  1958 Olivia Norvell and Rémi Rorschach meet at Davos.

  Bernard Dinteville begins his research.

  27 July: birth of Anne Breidel; 8 August: first letter from Elizabeth Breidel to Sven Ericsson.

  1959 7 September: birth of Béatrice Breidel; second letter from Elizabeth to Sven Ericsson; 14 September, murder of Elizabeth and François Breidel; 17 September, suicide of Sven Ericsson.

  October: birth of Véronique Altamont.

  1960 Foundation of the sect of The Three Free Men.