Rick Henry

Chant Rick Henry

Fiction. Successful formal experiments, especially those relying on Oulipian restraints and combinatories, might demand a certain degree of skill and patience, but so what? They remain 'beyond aesthetic value, ' as Raymond Queneau said--a mere demonstration of intellectuals gymnastics. Rick Henry's CHANT, an Oulipian Romance, is completely different in this respect. He demonstrates that such experiments need not be completely sterile, that there can be beauty and even love in constraint--Matt Short