Zazie dans le métro (1959). The best-known of the novels of Queneau, indeed, his only real commercial success. Ostensibly the story of a provincial child's weekend in Paris, where her greatest desire is to travel on the Métro—an ambition thwarted by a strike that is emblematic of the Paris of the day—Queneau's comic novel gave him a truly national (and international) reputation, but also led to his being popularly considered as primarily, even exclusively, a joker and player with words. Apart from employing what he had called ‘le néo-français’ to hilarious effect, this variation on Alice in Wonderland (Queneau's favourite work) uses a far-from-innocent protagonist to explore the theme of appearance and reality.
[Ian Revie]
