Paul Fournel


Paul Fournel is a French writer, poet, publisher, and cultural ambassador.

Biography

He was educated at the École normale supérieure of Saint-Cloud. Fournel wrote his master's thesis on Raymond Queneau and published the first book-length study of the Oulipo, Clefs pour la littérature potentielle. He joined the Oulipo, first as "slave," then as a full member, and he currently serves both as the Provisionally Definitive Secretary and the President of that group. He is also a regent of the College of 'Pataphysics.
Fournel has worked at various publishing houses, notably Hachette, Honoré Champion, Ramsay, and Seghers. From 1996 to 2000 he was director of the Alliance Française in San Francisco, and from 2000 to 2003 he was the French cultural attaché in Cairo. He has been France's cultural attaché in London.

Honors

Publications

Clefs pour la littérature potentielle, 1972L’Equilatère, 1972L’histoire véritable de Guignol, 1975Les petites filles respirent le même air que nous, 1978Les grosses rêveuses, 1981Les aventures très douces de Timothée le rêveur, 1982Un rocker de trop, 1982Superchat contre Vilmatou, 1985Les Athlètes dans leur tête, 1988Un homme regarde une femme, 2009Le jour que je suis grand, 1995Guignol, les Mourguet, 1995Pac de Cro détective, 1997Toi qui connais du monde, poems, 1997Alphabet Gourmand, 1998, with Harry Mathews and Boris TissotForaine, 1999,Besoin de vélo, essays, 2001;, trans. Allan StoeklTimothée dans l'arbre, 2003Poils de cairote, 2004Chamboula, 2007 Les animaux d'amour, 2007