The 100,000,000,000,000 Sonnets/Raymond Queneuau
Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), mathematician, poet and novelist, published in 1961 his monumental work Cent Mille Milliards de poèmes (One Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets). This herculean work consists of 14 groups of 10 lines of poetry.
------------------
Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), mathematician, poet and novelist, published in 1961 his monumental work Cent Mille Milliards de poèmes (One Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets). This herculean work consists of 14 groups of 10 lines of poetry. The works are ordered such that one may select one line of poetry from the first group, another line from the second group and so on until there are 14 lines of poetry which make up the sonnet. Because there are 10 options with 14 choices for each, it follows that exactly 10 to the 14 different sonnets may be produced using this method. No matter which lines you select, the sonnet form will hold true each and every time. As of yet, nobody has been willing to decimate the acres of forest that would be required in order to print every single sonnet. The few printings that are out there have the 14 groups of 10 lines simply printed; others have individually cut the lines so that the reader may flip the lines and create new sonnets accordingly. As Queneau once said about his work, there is enough reading here , "for 190,258,751 years, plus some hours and minute, and without taking into account leap years and other such details."
If you're interested in reading the originals in French, you may click HERE to find an interactive Flash application where you can change the lines at random to create new sonnets and read for years and years if you'd like.
If you're interested in reading the English translations you may click HERE to find a random generator of the poems. Again, one could read these sonnets for lifetimes without finishing.
-----------------------
Sources:
https://www.growndodo.com/wordplay/oulipo/10%5E14sonnets.html
https://www.smullyan.org/smulloni/queneau/
https://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7875538/Nadie-podr-terminar-de-leer.html
------------------
Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), mathematician, poet and novelist, published in 1961 his monumental work Cent Mille Milliards de poèmes (One Hundred Thousand Billion Sonnets). This herculean work consists of 14 groups of 10 lines of poetry. The works are ordered such that one may select one line of poetry from the first group, another line from the second group and so on until there are 14 lines of poetry which make up the sonnet. Because there are 10 options with 14 choices for each, it follows that exactly 10 to the 14 different sonnets may be produced using this method. No matter which lines you select, the sonnet form will hold true each and every time. As of yet, nobody has been willing to decimate the acres of forest that would be required in order to print every single sonnet. The few printings that are out there have the 14 groups of 10 lines simply printed; others have individually cut the lines so that the reader may flip the lines and create new sonnets accordingly. As Queneau once said about his work, there is enough reading here , "for 190,258,751 years, plus some hours and minute, and without taking into account leap years and other such details."
If you're interested in reading the originals in French, you may click HERE to find an interactive Flash application where you can change the lines at random to create new sonnets and read for years and years if you'd like.
If you're interested in reading the English translations you may click HERE to find a random generator of the poems. Again, one could read these sonnets for lifetimes without finishing.
-----------------------
Sources:
https://www.growndodo.com/wordplay/oulipo/10%5E14sonnets.html
https://www.smullyan.org/smulloni/queneau/
https://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7875538/Nadie-podr-terminar-de-leer.html