Lipograms

[Pete]

Following the surprising 'success' () of the "no 'n's" thread, and Arch's 'n'-only rejoinder (can't say I understand it, mind!), I thought folks might be interested in large-scale lipograms (text which completely omits a certain letter or letters). There are two famous examples, both of which entirely lack the letter 'e':
Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright, written about 1938, and:
A Void (originally published in French as La Disparition), written 1969 by Georges Perec. The English translation preserves the rule of no 'e's.

Both books appear to be out-of-print, but Gadsby can be read on-line. It is not a particularly good novel, but interesting.
A Void, apparently not on-line, and hard to get: I have tried for some years, but not yet managed, to secure a copy. It is supposed to be incomparably better than Gadsby. One I would like to read some time: I have only seen extracts.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I once wrote a long post without using the letter 'Z' a single time.

 

[PrettyboyTim]

To anybody interested in this, I can heartily recommend 'Ella Minnow Pea' by Mark Dunn. As well as being a touching, beautifully written novel, it also contains a great wealth of lipograms.

It's a lovely book. Read it read it read it!

 

[Fab Foodie]

Err...Why?

 

[Arch]

Following the surprising 'success' () of the "no 'n's" thread, and Arch's 'n'-only rejoinder (can't say I understand it, mind!),

It says, "Now, I thought there ought to be a thread with only n in it" But said all in n's.

I have to say, the lipogram thing certainly makes you think, and for that reason, can make you quite creative - like fridge poetry - I'd never write a poem normally, but when restricted to only certain words, it became a challenge and I would really work at it.

I don't have the tiles up at the moment, as my fridge is an under-counter one, and I don't want to give myself a bad back.

 

[Aperitif]

Ploetry