Do you know what a lipogram is? The image above might give you a hint if you look closely. Cheryl has been investigating.
This literary device must be unbelievably hard to use, and the examples I’ve found are very interesting to read and study. I’ve included a couple of books that I haven’t read yet, so some information here is based on research, but there are plenty of links for you to check for yourself. I’m keen to give them a try, though.
Poems by Gottlob Wilhelm Burmann
You probably haven’t read any of Gottlob Wilhelm Burmann’s poetry. Most people haven’t. But this German Romantic poet isn’t remembered for his poetry, he is actually best known for his obsessive dislike of the letter ‘R’.
Burmann not only wrote 130 poems without using that letter, but he also omitted the letter ‘R’ from his daily conversation and refused to say his own last name for over for 17 years. How on earth would you be able to do that!
Click here to browse his 1796 book, Some poems without the letter R.
It’s written in German, but you’ll be able to search for ‘R’s.
The Fate of Nassan
‘E’ is the most commonly used letter in the English language, typically taking first place regardless of which analysis method is used. This makes it pretty much indispensable when writing anything in English, French and other languages. Unless, of course, you are this annonymous poet.
The Fate of Nassan, dates from pre-1870, but who penned it is lost in the annals of history. In this extremely clever piece of writing, each stanza contains every letter of the entire alphabet…
… with one exception – the letter ‘e’ is completely absent. One thing we do know is that it was composed “with ease without E’s”.
Bold Nassan quits his caravan,
A hazy mountain grot to scan;
Climbs jaggy rocks to find his way,
Doth tax his sight, but far doth stray.
Not work of man, nor sport of child
Finds Nassan on this mazy wild;
Lax grow his joints, limbs toil in vain—
Poor wight! why didst thou quit that plain?
Vainly for succour Nassan calls;
Know, Zillah, that thy Nassan falls;
But prowling wolf and fox may joy
To quarry on thy Arab boy.
Gadsby
Ernest Vincent Wright’s novel, Gadsby, written in 1939, has over 50,000 words, but not one of them contains a single letter ‘E’.
Wright’s self-imposed rule prohibited such common English words as the and he, plurals ending in -es, past tenses ending in -ed, and even abbreviations like Mr (since it is short for Mister) or Rob (for Robert). Yet the narration flows fairly smoothly, and the book was praised by critics for its literary merits.
“The entire manuscript of this story was written with the E type-bar of the typewriter tied down; thus making it impossible for that letter to be printed. This was done so that none of that vowel might slip in, accidentally; and many did try to do so!” says Wright in the introduction.
The full book is available in the Public Domain, so you can easily read it online. Here is a small sample.
Upon this basis I am going to show you how a bunch of bright young folks did find a champion; a man with boys and girls of his own; a man of so dominating and happy individuality that Youth is drawn to him as is a fly to a sugar bowl. It is a story about a small town. It is not a gossipy yarn; nor is it a dry, monotonous account, full of such customary ‘fill-ins’ as ‘romantic moonlight casting murky shadows down a long, winding country road.’ Nor will it say anything about tinklings lulling distant folds; robins caroling at twilight, nor any ‘warm glow of lamplight’ from a cabin window. No. It is an account of up-and-doing activity; a vivid portrayal of Youth as it is today; and a practical discarding of that worn-out notion that ‘a child don’t know anything.’
The Wonderful O
The Wonderful O by James Thurber is the last of five fairy tales he wrote for children and was published in 1957. This is a book I’m yet to read myself, so I’ve included lots of links.
In this book, the island of Ooroo was inhabited by gentle people who did not resist when pirates, unable to find a treasure of jewels, decided to get rid of all words with the letter ‘O’ in them. They demolish everything containing the letter – from cellos and mandolins to calico and clocks.
A man named Otto Ott, when asked his name, could only stutter, and lady Ophelia Oliver, when asked for her name, is forced to reply, ‘Feel Yer Liver’.
Cnfusin and chas reigns.
The islanders decided that the words with ‘O’ must not be lost, three of the most important being “Hope” & “Love” & “Valor.”
I’ll build you a better man of firmer flesh and all complete, from hairy head to metatarsal feet, using As and Is and Us and Es with muscular arms and flexible knees; eyes and ears and lids and lips, neck and chest and breast and hips;…
“It is such a fun book to read aloud, intelligent, witty, filled with not only Thurber’s wordplay but with his internal rhythm. I cannot recommend it enough,” reviews The Mookse and the Gripes
La Disparition
La Disparition (The Disappearance) is a novel by Georges Perec, written in 1969. The entire 300-page novel completely omits the letter ‘E’ from this French language book.
An English translation titled, A Void written by Gilbert Adair was completed in 1995. Gilbert Adair’s translation – naturally – doesn’t have any ‘E’s in it either.
This book is lots of fun. The plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and a mystery that needs solving. The missing ‘E’ as a structuring principle for the novel. There are 26 chapters, well 25, once you notice that there is a blank page between the end of chapter 4 and the start of 6. Where is Chapter 5? Think about it for a moment. But wait, there’s more! The novel’s central character is a man named Anton Vowl, who, of course, goes missing. And what happens when a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs ‘e’ in the spelling?
This masterful story, chock-full of plots and subplots, demonstrates the advanced literary skill of both Georges Perec and Gilbert Adair.
You can read a large number of sample pages at Google Books.
Anu Garg of A.Word.A.Day, writes: “Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it.”
Oh, and in case you haven’t already noticed, both the titles, La Disparition and A Void only have A, I, and O in them.
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
Ella Minnow Pea written in 2001 by Mark Dunn is an epistolary novel – one told through letters. Or is that letters?
Yes, a series of letters and notes sent between the various characters forms the structure of the novel, but there are so many more letters involved.
Set on the fictional island of Nollop, the island’s Council is banning the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue. As letters disappear, the novel becomes more and more phonetically or creatively spelled, and the messages grow progressively quirkier and inventive. Alternatives begin to dominate such as “yesters” for “yesterday”, and “yellow sphere” for “sun”.
Ella Minnow Pea is reviewed as a charming and clever fable of unlikely design, full of anything but idle wordplay. Dunn has fashioned a real novel and the characters do come alive, even as the language is deadened. There’s suspense, love, and a great deal of affection for language and people.
This is the other book I’ve yet to read myself, but reviews are good, and it is said to be a very enjoyable book, somewhere between a game and a political allegory, a testament to the beauty of language, and the importance of freedom of speech.
If you say the title of this book quickly, can you hear a series of letters in the alphabet?
What’s missing?
Mary Had a Lipogram
Just to round things off, here is one last example from the GateWorld Forum. Enjoy the story of Mary, who had a … lipogram.
Selected links for relevant websites, books, movies, videos, and more. Some of these links lead to protected content on this website, learn more about that here.
Gleanings for the curious from the harvest-fields of literature by Charles C Bombaugh (page 28)
Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright
The Wonderful O by James Thurber
A Void translated by Gilbert Adair
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Gleanings for the curious from the harvest-fields of literature by Charles C Bombaugh (page 28)
Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright
Google Books: A Void by Gilbert Adair
Gottlob Burmann
Georges Perec
Gilbert Adair
Ernest Vincent Wright
James Thurber
Mark Dunn
Wikipedia: The Wonderful O
The Mookse and the Gripes: The Wonderful O
Michigan Quarterly Review: However Obliquely: Georges Perec’s La Disparition
A.Word.A.Day: lipogram
Wikipedia: Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
Why Ella Minnow Pea is an Unlikely Perfect Dystopia
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters