Oulipo—short for Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle (Workshop of Potential Literature)—is a literary group founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. Bringing together writers and mathematicians, Oulipo investigates how formal constraints—such as lipograms or mathematical structures—can spark creativity and innovation in literature. Unlike the surrealists, who embraced chance, Oulipo sees constraint not as a limitation but as a catalyst for literary invention.