author
Raymond Roussel
1877–1933
An eccentric and influential French writer, he turned wordplay, puzzles, and dreamlike invention into some of the strangest books of the 20th century. Though little understood in his lifetime, his work later inspired Surrealists, Oulipo writers, and generations of experimental artists.
1 Audiobook
Locus Solus
by Raymond Roussel
About the author
Born in Paris in 1877, Raymond Roussel was a French poet, novelist, and playwright known for taking language to unexpected extremes. He came from a wealthy family, which gave him the freedom to pursue an unusually private and obsessive literary life.
Roussel became famous for works such as Impressions of Africa and Locus Solus, books admired for their elaborate scenes, cool precision, and dazzling oddity. He later explained that some of his writing grew from a method built on similar-sounding words and phrases, using verbal accidents to generate entire stories.
His books puzzled many early readers, but they went on to have a lasting afterlife. Writers and artists associated with Surrealism, Oulipo, and later experimental literature found in his work a remarkable model of imagination, structure, and artistic independence. He died in Palermo in 1933.