Raymond Roussel

Raymond Roussel (1877–1933) a French author of novels, poems, and plays, was a great influence on 20th century French literature, influencing such groups as the Surrealists, the Oulipo, and the nouveau roman authors.

His most famous works are Impressions of Africa and Locus Solus, which were written according to formal constraints based on homonymic puns. Roussel kept this method a secret until the publication of his posthumous text, How I Wrote Certain of My Books. Roussel was unpopular during his lifetime, and critical reception of his works was almost unanimously negative. Nevertheless, he was admired by the Surrealist group and other avant-garde writers. He began to be rediscovered in the late 1950s, by the Oulipo and Alain Robbe-Grillet.

His most direct influence in the English speaking world was on the New York school of poets, including Harry Mathews, Kenneth Koch, and John Ashbery. French theorist Michel Foucault's only book length work of literary criticism is on Roussel.