Writing a short biography of Raymond Queneau might at first appear a useless task: speaking about Proust’s life in

Bâtons, chiffres et lettres

[

Letters, numbers, forms

]

,

Queneau argues: “I will not devote much time on the last point, as people as subjects do not matter much”. Queneau has indeed always been eager to draw a line between personal and literary life. Yet biographical aspects do emerge in some of his books – particularly in

Chêne et Chien

and

Les Derniers jours

[

The Last Days

], but also in

Odile

[

Odile

] and

Le Dimanche de la vie

[

The Sunday of Life

], so we will include some of these here.

Raymond Auguste Queneau was born in Le Havre on 21 February 1903. His father was Auguste Queneau, a former volunteer who served in the colonies (Tonkin, Sudan), left the army

2386 words

Citation: François Denève, Corinne. "Raymond Queneau". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12765, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12765 Raymond Queneau 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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