"The classical playwright who writes his tragedy observing a certain number of familiar rules is freer than the poet who writes that which comes into his head and who is the slave of other rules of which he is ignorant."
--Raymond Queneau
At first this sounds like a contradiction but then after thinking it over I decided that Queneau is essentially saying "You need to know the rules in order to break them." Knowing the rules allows you to follow them and break them--using a counter set of rules. The options then double, instead of writing in ignorance where one will surely end up with a muddle of words.
Posted by: Megan Bonnell on February 25, 2004 02:44 PM | Permalink to CommentOhh, that's an intriguing quote. You do have to know the rules in order to break them to some extent. But I would still disagree... because the classical playwright in knowing the rules has usually decided to confine himself to them. It's a different kind of mental entrapment.
Posted by: Anastasia Salter on February 26, 2004 09:17 AM | Permalink to Comment