Raymond Queneau’s Dubliners: Bewildered by Excess of Love

This work is a broad-ranging exploration of two comic erotic and well-nigh feminist novels written by Raymond Queneau, On est toujours trop bon avec les femmes (1947) and Journal intime (1950). Both are set in Ireland, were initially published by Editions du Scorpion under the pseudonym Sally Mara, and then later published together by Gallimard as Les OEuvres completes de Sally Mara (1962). The book examines Queneau’s life when he wrote these texts, the pervasive Joycean influences, his surreal version of the 1916 Dublin Uprising versus the real event, his remarkably accurate Dublin city and his use of the Irish language. The seven core chapters are explorations of prominent aspects of these works, and most involve the solution of puzzles by means of investigations of contexts, contemporary events, and a wide variety of sources. In conclusion, the book makes a convincing case for the literary and entertainment value of Les OEuvres completes de Sally Mara as a long-planned and subtly integrated work.