Poetry. Translated from the French by Eleni Sikelianos. "Six voices dialogue across centuries. Their delightful--and delightfully translated--exchanges range through philosophers, poets, and scientists as far apart as Aristotle and Lord Kelvin. As the voices follow each other in sestinalike permutation, they encircle--now by propositions, now by poems--'the sum of light [that] is the world'"--Rosmarie Waldrop. Jacques Roubaud is one of France's leading contemporary writers. Working in poetry, fiction, criticism, and theater, his voice ranges from crisp analysis to dashing humor to compelling narrative to delicate lyric. A prominent member of the Oulipo (the Workshop for Potential Literature), he taught mathematics for many years at the Universite de Paris X. He is a prolific translator from Japanese and English, including classics such as Lewis Carol's The Hunting of the Snark.