oulipo and eunoia -WORDSMITHS

experimenting with the words....

 is it a great way to write when
you don't have any actual ideas?



  1)  La disparition, by G. Perec.

Raymond Queneau,
 Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle 

There's a movement in France called Oulipo which explores such things. 

• One of my favourite works from this school is the book by Italo Calvino where he wrote stories the plots and characters of which were entirely determined by laying out Tarot cards.
•  The books are The Castle of Crossed Destiny and The Tavern of Crossed Destiny.

 2)  Eunoia  by C. Bok 

• "Eunoia" means "beautiful thought" and is the shortest word in English to employ all of the vowels. Written over seven years—the same period of time it took Joyce to write Ulysses—"Eunoia" is a "universal lipogram," in that it restricts itself to the use of only one vowel per chapter (review)

from Chapter I
(for Dick Higgins)

Writing is inhibiting. Sighing, I sit, scribbling in ink
this pidgin script. I sing with nihilistic witticism,
disciplining signs with trifling gimmicks – impish
hijinks which highlight stick sigils. Isn’t it glib?
Isn’t it chic? I fit childish insights within rigid limits,
writing shtick which might instill priggish misgiv-
ings in critics blind with hindsight. I dismiss nit-
picking criticism which flirts with philistinism.

Christian Bok was definitely influenced by that Perec's A void, A no-E book., tranlated by G. Adair.

bonus_ A LONG STORY WITHOUT THE LETTER E_  Gadsby

this concept of not using "e" already been done by Ernest Vincent Wright with "Gadspy"? ...... what an amazing book. this is a 285 page novel that doesn't contain a single letter e.