Georges Perec was born in Paris in 1936. He studied sociology at the Sorbonne and later worked as a public-opinion pollster and a research librarian, until his literary activity allowed him to support himself financially. Notable works include Les choses (Things: A Story of the Sixties, 1965), La disparition (A Void, 1969), Espèces d’espaces (Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, 1974), and La vie mode d’emploi (Life A User’s Manual, 1978). He died in 1982.