Editing Life: A User's Manual (section)

{{Short description|1978 novel by Georges Perec}}
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{{Refimprove|date=October 2011}}
{{Essay-like|date=October 2011}}
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{{Infobox book
| name          = Life: A User's Manual
| title_orig    = La Vie mode d'emploi
| translator    = [[David Bellos]]
| image         = Life A User's Manual.jpg
| caption = 1979 French edition
| author        = [[Georges Perec]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  =
| country       = France
| language      = [[French language|French]]
| series        =
| genre         =
| publisher     = [[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Littératures]]
| pub_date      = 1978
| english_pub_date = 1987
| media_type    =
| pages         =
| isbn =  978-0-87923-751-6
|isbn_note      = (1978 paperback, first English translation)<br />{{ISBN|0-87923-751-1}} (1987 hardcover)<br />{{ISBN|978-1-56792-373-5}} (2008 paperback, revised translation)
}}
'''''Life: A User's Manual''''' (original title '''''La Vie mode d'emploi''''') is [[Georges Perec]]'s most famous novel, published in 1978, first translated into English by [[David Bellos]] in 1987. Its title page describes it as "novels", in the plural, the reasons for which become apparent on reading. Some critics have cited the work as an example of [[postmodern]] fiction, but Perec preferred to avoid labels and his only long-term affiliation with any movement was with the [[Oulipo]] or ''OUvroir de LIttérature POtentielle''.

''La Vie mode d'emploi'' features many interwoven stories and ideas as well as literary and historical allusions. It is based on the lives of the inhabitants of a fictitious Parisian apartment block, 11 rue Simon-Crubellier. It was written according to a complex plan of [[constrained writing|writing constraints]], and is primarily constructed from several elements, each adding a layer of complexity.