Georges Perec's "53 Days": Genetic Criticism, A User's Manual

Georges Perec's "53 Days": Genetic Criticism, A User's Manual "53 days", Geoges Perec's last, unfinished, novel, is constructed in two parts, which mirror each other, the second part undoing the first. Perec thus invites his reader to explore the hidden principles on which the text is grounded. For "53 days" is not only a detective novel, it is also an enquiry into the genesis of its writing, with numerous clues dispersed in a variety of pre-texts. Nonetheless, if hermeneutical characters can help in deciphering meaning, they are also constantly confronted with the risk of error. The novel thus inscribes itself against a mythologised idea of genetic criticism as the key to finding all the meanings of the work, as they will have been programmed absolutely and immutably. It thus constitutes a lucid user's manual providing for the balanced use of genetic criticism in understanding literary works.