Harry Matthews was the only American member of Oulipo.

Matthews devised an algorithm to generate new texts based on these rules:

• All sets to be combined must contain the same number of elements.
• Each element in a set must have a function equivalent to the corresponding element in the other sets
• The sets can be superimosed one above the other to form a table consisting of rows (sets) and columns(elements).

  1	a1	b1	c1	d1
  2	a2	b2	c2	d2
  3	a3	b3	c3	d3
  4	a4	b4	c4	d4

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Operation

1. From n sets 2n sets can be obtained.
   Shift each set n-1 places left:

   1 a1 b1 c1 d1 2 a2 b2 c2 d2 3 a3 b3 c3 d3 4 a4 b4 c4 d4

   1 a1 b1 c1 d1 2 b2 c2 d2 a2 3 c3 d3 a3 b3 4 d4 a4 b4 c4

   
   
   
   

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2. Read the columns downward starting with the beige element:

   1	a1	b1	c1	d1
   2	b2	c2	d2	a2
   3	c3	d3	a3	b3
   4	d4	a4	b4	c4

   
   new line=a₁  b₂  c₃  d₄  
   
   new line=a₄  b₁  c₂  d₃  
   
   new line=a₃  b₄  c₁  d₂  
   
   new line=a₂  b₃  c₄  d₁  
   
   

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3. Perform the same manipulation with the shift right:

   1 a1 b1 c1 d1 2 a2 b2 c2 d2 3 a3 b3 c3 d3 4 a4 b4 c4 d4

   1 a1 b1 c1 d1 2 d2 a2 b2 c2 3 c3 d3 a3 b3 4 b4 c4 d4 a4

   
   
   

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4. Read the columns upward beginning with the beige element:
   

   1	a1	b1	c1	d1
   2	d2	a2	b2	c2
   3	c3	d3	a3	b3
   4	b4	c4	d4	a4

   
   new line=a₁  b₄  c₃  d₂  
   
   new line=a₂  b₁  c₄  d₃  
   
   new line=a₃  b₂  c₁  d₄  
   
   new line=a₄  b₃  c₂  d₁  
   
   
   

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Okay, but how does this work in "real life"

It can be applied to letters, words, verses, stanzas, and semantic elements:

1 Having received instructions, the son hesitantly chooses revenge. 2 Out of control, the widowed mother quickly remarries. 3 Being resentful, the uncle desparately attacks. 4 Rejected and confused, the young maiden sadly loses her mind. Shifted left 1 Having received instructions, the son hesitantly chooses revenge. 2 the widowed mother quickly remarries. Out of control, 3 desparately attacks. Being resentful, the uncle 4 loses her mind. Rejected and confused, the young maiden sadly Shifted right 1 Having received instructions, the son hesitantly chooses revenge. 2 remarries. Out of control, the widowed mother quickly 3 desparately attacks. Being resentful, the uncle 4 the young maiden sadly loses her mind. Rejected and confused,

A new Hamlet
Having received instructions, the widowed mother desperately loses her mind.
Rejected and confused, the son quickly attacks.
Being resentful, the young maiden hesitantly remaries.
Out of control, the uncle sadly chooses revenge.


Having received instructions, the young maidendesperately remarries.
Out of control, the son sadly attaks.
Being resentful, the widowed mother hesitantly loses her mind.
Rejected and confused, the uncle quickly chooses revenge.

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Activity

1. Using the Hamlet example, create your own story/statement with similar syntactical structure.
   
   Each phrase must start with an initial modifier (remember to keep it generic —no his or her):
   
   • Infinitive Phrase: To please mother, Maria quickly finished the homework.
     
     
   • Participial Phrase: Hoping to feel better, Martin quietly went to bed.
     
     
   • After a long and grueling day, Jerry happily fell into a comfortable chair.
     
     
   • Invigorated by the energy in the room, the dynamic Isabel boldly introduced the speaker.
     
     
   • Having been recently lied to, the betrayed friend sadly logged off.
     
     
   
   The second element is the subject:
   • To please mother, Maria quickly finished the homework.
     
     
   • Hoping to feel better, Martin quietly went to bed.
     
     
   • After a long and grueling day, Jerry happily fell into a comfortable chair.
     
     
   • Invigorated by the energy in the room, the dynamic Isabel boldly introduced the speaker.
     
     
   • Having been recently lied to, the betrayed friend sadly logged off.
     
     
   
   The third element is an adverb:
   • To please mother, Maria quickly finished the homework.
     
     
   • Hoping to feel better, Martin quietly went to bed.
     
     
   • After a long and grueling day, Jerry happily fell into a comfortable chair.
     
     
   • Invigorated by the energy in the room, the dynamic Isabel boldly introduced the speaker.
     
     
   • Having been recently lied to, the betrayed friend sadly logged off.
     
     
   
   The last element is an predicate:
   • To please mother, Maria quickly finished the homework.
     
     
   • Hoping to feel better, Martin quietly went to bed.
     
     
   • After a long and grueling day, Jerry happily fell into a comfortable chair.
     
     
   • Invigorated by the energy in the room, the dynamic Isabel boldly introduced the speaker.
     
     
   • Having been recently lied to, the betrayed friend sadly logged off.
     
     
   
   
   

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2. Write your story or statements.
   
   

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3. CTRL+click on the link to save jquery to the same place you are saving your web pages to.
   
   

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4. Open a text editor and create a new HTML5 document. Save it as your_firstName_last_initial_matthews.html
   
   

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5. Add the following to include jquery

   <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.4.2.js">
   	
   

   
   
   

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6. In the head section type:

   <script type="text/javascript">
   $(function(){
   //your code will go here:
   
   
   })
   </script>

   
   
   

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7. Inside the script element create your arrays:

   var phrase1=["To please mother, ",
   "Hoping to feel better, ",
   "After a long and grueling day,  ",
   "Invigorated by the energy in the room, ",
   "Having been recently lied to, "
   ];
   
   var phrase2=["Maria ",
   "Martin ",
   "Jerry ",
   "the dynamic Isabel ",
   "the betrayed friend"];
   
   var phrase3=["quickly ",
   "quietly ",
   "happily ",
   "boldly ",
   "sadly "];
   
   var phrase4=["finished the homework.",
   "went to bed.",
   "fell into a comfortable chair.",
   "introduced the speaker.",
   "logged off."];
   

   
   
   

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8. Set the variable phraseNumber to 0

   var phraseNumber=0;
   

   
   
   

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9. Set the variable numberOfPhrases to the length of the arrays (in my case they have 5 elements)

   var numberOfPhrases=5;
   

   
   
   

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10. You want to write the new phrases in the body:

    $("#story").html(phrase1[phraseNumber]+ phrase2[phraseNumber]+phrase3[phraseNumber]+phrase4[phraseNumber]);
    $("#nums").html(phraseNumber+","+phraseNumber+","+phraseNumber+","+phraseNumber);
    
    

    
    
    

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11. You want to create a function to shift left:

    function shiftLeftPhraseNumber(n){
    
       if(phraseNumber+n<numberofPhrases){
         return (phraseNumber+n);
         }else{
         return phraseNumber+n-numberofPhrases;
         }
       
        
    }
    $("#previousStory").click(function(){
      if (phraseNumber+1<numberofPhrases){
      phraseNumber++;
      }else{
      phraseNumber=0;
      }
        $("#story").html(phrase1[shiftLeftPhraseNumber(1)]+ phrase2[shiftLeftPhraseNumber(2)]+phrase3[shiftLeftPhraseNumber(3)]+phrase4[shiftLeftPhraseNumber(4)]); 
       $("#nums").html(shiftLeftPhraseNumber(1)+","+shiftLeftPhraseNumber(2)+","+shiftLeftPhraseNumber(3)+","+shiftLeftPhraseNumber(4));
    });

    
    
    

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12. You want to create a function to shift right:

    function shiftRightPhraseNumber(n){
    
       if(phraseNumber-n>=0){
         return (phraseNumber-n);
         }else{
         return phraseNumber-n+numberofPhrases;
         }
       
        
    }
    $("#nextStory").click(function(){
        if (phraseNumber-1>0){
      phraseNumber--;
      }else{
      phraseNumber=numberofPhrases;
      }
        $("#story").html(phrase1[shiftRightPhraseNumber(1)]+ phrase2[shiftRightPhraseNumber(2)]+phrase3[shiftRightPhraseNumber(3)]+phrase4[shiftRightPhraseNumber(4)]);
     $("#nums").html(shiftRightPhraseNumber(1)+","+shiftRightPhraseNumber(2)+","+shiftRightPhraseNumber(3)+","+shiftRightPhraseNumber(4));
    }); 

    
    
    

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13. Include code to show or hide the original phrases:

    $("#showOriginal").click(function(){
        phraseNumber=0;
        var t="";
        for(i=0;i<numberofPhrases;i++){
        t+=phrase1[i]+phrase2[i]+phrase3[i]+phrase4[i]+"<br />";
        }
        
        $("#originals").html(t);
      $("#originals").toggle("fast");
      if($("#showOriginal").html()=="hide original"){
      $("#showOriginal").html("show original");
      }else{
      $("#showOriginal").html("hide original");
      }
        
    });
    

    
    
    

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14. Copy and paste the following in the body:

    <div>
    <p id="story"></p>
    <p id="nums"></p>
    <p id="originals" style="display:none;"></p>
    <button id="previousStory" >previous</button><button id="nextStory" >next</button><button id="showOriginal" >show original</button>
    </div>
    

    
    
    

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15. Save.
    
    

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