Alison James focuses on modern and contemporary French literature. Her teaching and research interests include the Oulipo group, experimental poetry and prose, the connections between literature and philosophy, and representations of the everyday. Her book Constraining Chance: Georges Perec and the Oulipo has been recently published by Northwestern University Press (2009). She has edited a special issue of L'Esprit créateur on the theme of literary formalism (Summer 2008) and has published articles on Louis Aragon, Jacques Roubaud, Georges Perec, Harry Mathews, and the philosopher Clément Rosset.