The ABCs of early French computational literature: APL,Paul Braffort,and constrained writing in Oulipo

Abstract

This article explores how Iverson's APL (A Programming Language), a distinctive programming language, was integrated into Oulipo's Atlas de littérature potentielle by Paul Braffort (1923–2018), the group's AI and programming expert. For Braffort, APL was more than an efficient tool for algorithmic text processing and text generation; it served as a pedagogical “tool of thought” that enabled creative writers to abstract and formalize their ideas about constrained writing. We examine Braffort's technical and aesthetic rationale for adopting APL over more common programming languages. By uniting science (computer science in a broad sense) and humanities (literature) cultures, Braffort embodied a new figure in French experimental literature of the 1970s–1980s: the writer–mathematician–programmer, updating the previous figure in the Oulipo of the writer–mathematician epitomized by Queneau. In today's era of generative AI with natural-language interfaces, his forward-looking vision of modeling literary ideas in APL as a formal language remains both relevant and original. At present, with free access to modern APL tooling and abundant resources, creative writers can more readily than in 1981 experience APL as a powerful “intellectual tool”, a tool that has empowered creative artists beyond the field of literature. Braffort's work with APL in the Atlas stands as a milestone in French computational literature, characterized by the crossing of constrained writing, programming, and the formalizing spirit of early AI.