To illustrate and put into practice his method of reading, Emmanuel Hocquard in Le Canale (1997) invites readers to play a game. As with most language games, there are no predefined rules. One learns by playing, on the job, by manipulating the toys - in this case, texts. It's a matter of reading them, checking that "there's enough in you to do something with it", trying not to understand what the author meant, but to examine what he's doing and inviting us to do. In order to play, one needs to investigate: how does one look at an anamorphosis? how does one solve a spatial geometry problem from a book of poetry? how do a Rolleiflex and a Sinar camera work? and who's standing on the stone by the pond at the bottom of the garden? By manipulating images and statements, Emmanuel Hocquard is first and foremost turning perspective on its head, and implementing a practical aesthetic that favors experimentation over the theoretical discourse of traditional aesthetics.