Editing Oulipo (section)

== History ==
Oulipo was founded on November 24, 1960, as a subcommittee of the [['Pataphysics|Collège de 'Pataphysique]] and titled ''Séminaire de littérature expérimentale''.<ref name="bill seaman">{{cite journal |last=Seaman|first=Bill|title=OULIPO VS Recombinant Poetics |journal=Leonardo |date=October 2001 |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=423–430 |doi=10.1162/002409401753521548|s2cid=14002965}}</ref>  At their second meeting, the group changed its name to ''Ouvroir de littérature potentielle'', or Oulipo, at [[Albert-Marie Schmidt]]'s suggestion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barry |first=Robert |title=The Exploits And Opinions Of Gavin Bryars, 'Pataphysician |url= http://thequietus.com/articles/08491-gavin-bryars-interview |work=The Quietus |publisher=TheQuietus.com |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref>  The idea had arisen two months earlier, when a small group met in September at [[Cerisy-la-Salle]] for a colloquium on Queneau's work. During this seminar, Queneau and [[François Le Lionnais]] conceived the society.<ref name=Sobelle>{{cite web |last=Sobelle |first=Stefanie |title=The Oulipo |url= http://www.bookforum.com/booklist/4527 |publisher=Bookforum |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref>

During the subsequent decade, Oulipo (as it was commonly known) was only rarely visible as a group. As a subcommittee, they reported their work to the full Collège de 'Pataphysique in 1961. In addition, ''{{ill|Temps Mêlés|fr}}'' {{in lang|fr}} devoted an issue to Oulipo in 1964, and Belgian radio broadcast one Oulipo meeting. Its members were individually active during these years and published works which were created within their constraints.  The group as a whole began to emerge from obscurity in 1973 with the publication of ''{{ill|La Littérature Potentielle|fr}}'', a collection of representative pieces. [[Martin Gardner]] helped to popularize the group in America when he featured Oulipo in his February 1977 [[Mathematical Games column]] in Scientific American.<ref>''[https://old.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/abstracts/abstracts/1046/1046-j1-470.pdf Playing with Poetry: using mathematics to discover new verses]'' by JoAnne Growney</ref><ref>[https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/imaginary-numbers-an-anthology-of-marvelous-mathematical-stories-diversions-poems-and-musings Review of Imaginary Numbers by William Frucht] [[Mathematical Association of America]] press release</ref> In 2012 Harvard University Press published a history of the movement, ''Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature'', by Oulipo member [[Daniel Levin Becker]].<ref name="Channels">{{cite book |last1=Levin Becker |first1=Daniel |title=Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature |date=April 2012 |author-link=Daniel Levin Becker |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Boston |isbn=9780674065772 |url= http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674065772 |access-date=13 May 2017}}</ref>

Oulipo was founded by a group of men in 1960 and it took 15 years before the first woman was allowed to join; this was [[Michèle Métail]] who became a member in 1975 and has since distanced herself from the group.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michèle Métail|url=https://www.oulipo.net/fr/oulipiens/mm|last=Michèle Métail|date=2013-08-21|website=www.oulipo.net|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=An Attempt at Exhausting a Movement|url=https://thenewinquiry.com/an-attempt-at-exhausting-a-movement/|last1=Elkin|first1=Lauren|last2=Esposito|first2=Scott|date=2013-01-17|website=The New Inquiry|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> Since 1960 only six women have joined Oulipo,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Who Are the Women of Oulipo?|url=https://www.catranslation.org/blog-post/who-are-the-women-of-oulipo/|date=2017-04-12|website=Center for the Art of Translation {{!}} Two Lines Press|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> with [[Clémentine Mélois]] last to join in June 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Clémentine Mélois|url=https://www.oulipo.net/fr/oulipiens/cm|last=Mélois|first=Clémentine|date=2017-06-13|website=www.oulipo.net|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref>