Georges Perec is best known in Slovenia for his novels Things; Life, A User’s Manual. He was a member of an experimental group of “mathematicians and occasional literati, and literati and occasional mathematicians”, called Oulipo. The Raise, originally written in a single sentence in the second person singular without punctuation, and subsequently published in 1968 under the title The Art and Method of Approaching Your Boss to Ask For a Raise, is similarly marked by the use of formal linguistic procedures. In 1969, he rewrote it as a radio score for six voices, and a year later as a theatre play which has been revived to great acclaim in French theatres in recent years.

“L’Augmentation” by Georges Perec © Hachette Littératures, 2001 ; Editions Fayard, 2012