This article examines the aesthetic, political and philosophical ambitions of the Revue de littérature générale (RLG), founded in themid-1990s by Olivier Cadiot and Pierre Alferi. Far from channelling a blind devotion to cut-up or a simple legacy of the avant-garde genre, the publication was designed as a “repository of techniques”, showcasing montage, sampling and the recycling of textual material. Having an affinity with certain later Wittgenstein or American objectivist approaches, it focuses on exemplarity rather than theorisation, concentrating on specific uses of language. The article analyses the political ramifications of this stance : a critique of individual inspiration, spotlighting a literary craft, and offering methods rather than manifestos. Thirty years after its creation, the RLG continues to provide food for thought on literary technicality and its collective implications.