Eunoia (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Whenever Helen

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"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?" Besides being glib and chic, Bok's new book strikes one with the force of being the most incredible literary curio: each of its chapters is allowed to use only one vowel outgunning even Georges Perec's famed La Disparition, which simply omits the letter "e." Apparently seven years in the making, Eunoia, the shortest word in the English language to employ all the vowels (it means "beautiful thinking"), also employs other, more mundane constraints on paragraph length (all are 12 lines long) and what must be mentioned (the act of writing, nautical travel, energetic eating). This hyper-mechanization of the writer's craft sets the stage for a welter of eccentric, yet universally appealing, tours-de-force, such as Chapter E's retelling of the Illiad from the viewpoint of Helen: "Whenever Helen seeks these perverse excesses, her regretted deeds depress her; hence, Helen beseeches Ceres (the blessed Demeter): `let sweet Lethe bless me, lest these recent events be rememberd' then the empress feeds herself fermented hempseed, her preferred nepenthe." In the "u" chapter, "Dutch smut churns up blushful succubus lusts," and Ubu and Lulu burp, hump and bump for five delirious pages, exhausting, in the meantime, the entire range of English words that only contain the vowel. Eunoia's reductorial neurosis as euphonically zestful contrivance turns formidable stunts to imp's play. That is, this terrific book makes sense on its own terms. (Nov.)Forecast: Bok's debut Crystallography was well reviewed in Canada (Bok lives and works in Toronto, whence Coach House publishes), and he has invented languages for two Gene Roddenberry TV series, Earth: Final Conflict and Amazon. This book will have to be sought out, but it is beautifully produced, and browsers will be hooked.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A marvellous, musical texture of rhymes and echoes." -- Harry Mathews

"Eunoia is a novel that will drive everybody sane" -- Samuel R. Delany

"The writing is musical, bawdy, and ingenious...Bök has crafted storylines [that are] a delight to read." -- Devin Crawley, Quill and Quire, October, 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Coach House Press; 1 edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552450929
• ISBN-13: 978-1552450925
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #223,172 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An instant favorite, November 20, 2002

By	Andrew Parker (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

I was prompted to buy a copy of Eunoia after hearing Christian Bok reading excerpts on the radio. I devoured the book in one sitting, turning each page with greater anticipation, relishing each example of verbal ingenuity. To me, that's what Eunoia is essentially about - sheer brilliance. This book is the result of a titanic cerebral initiative and it comes off flawlessly.

I've lent this book to dozens of people, and to be honest, not everyone has appreciated it in the same way I have. Some people have read the first page and handed it back saying "I don't get it" or "it makes my head hurt". Clearly, this book is not for everyone.

If you have a passion for language you will love this book. If you like word-play, you will love this book. If you appreciate "cleverness" you will love this book. I smiled the whole way through it out of sheer amazement and disbelief. By far the best thing I've read this year, and something that I will continue to revisit over the years to come.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eunoia becoming a hit among true synesthetes, December 29, 2001

By	Sean A. Day (Oxford, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Christian Bök's Eunoia is becoming a fast hit among those with actual "colored-letter" synesthesia.

Christian Bök based part of his ideas for Eunoia off the concept of synesthesia, mainly borrowing from Arthur Rimbaud's poem "Voyelles" (the strangely-colored cover design for the book is also based upon the same). In "Voyelles", Rimbaud creates correspondences between colors and letters of the alphabet (or, more specifically, the written symbols - the graphemes) for vowels.

Synesthesia is an actually existing, albeit rare, set of benign neurological conditions. Overwhelmingly, the most common (perhaps as common as existing in 1 out of every 750 people) form of synesthesia involves involuntary, automatic correspondences made between colors and graphemes (letter and number characters). This type of synesthesia is apparently genetically-based (that is, organic, and not psychologically based upon childhood associations), and usually emerges around the age of six or seven years of age. Those with "colored-letter" synesthesia generally maintain it throughout life, with virtually no variations in the color-letter correspondences. They have no choice as to which colors are associated with which letters and are stuck with the links throughout life. Also, each individual synesthete's total set of color-letter correspondences is unique, although there are certain trends to be found world-wide with certain graphemes, such as "A" being red and "O" being white or clear amongst about two-thirds of all such synesthetes.

Rimbaud was not a colored-letter synesthete; he admits that he made up the correspondences in his (in-)famous poem.

However, now, true colored-letter synesthetes are finding Bök's book either an overwhelming thrill or nightmare. To those without this form of synesthesia, the pages of Bök's book - each page using one and only one vowel for all words - glare with the profusion of the particular vowel. For the actual colored-letter synesthete, each particular page tends to totally overwhelm with a particular color. I have received letters from synesthetes writing in rapturous awe of how a certain chapter of Eunoia sweep them with the "icy whiteness of O", or how it is a nightmare with simply too much red "A" (even though, to Rimbaud, "A" was supposed to be black) distracting from everything else.

Sean A. Day, President, American Synesthesia Association

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and very funny, June 20, 2002

By	Jessica Smith "Poet-Scholar" (Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Christian Bok's Eunoia is not only brilliant, but it's very funny and reads quickly. I just wanted to add to the previous review that Eunoia recently won the Griffin Poetry Prize. It's been a best-seller in Canada for awhile. More on the Griffin prize can be found [on the web]
it's the most prestigious Canadian award for poetry. If you like other OULIPO authors, Dr. Seuss & othre funny crazy stuff (tho not for the kids), sound poetry, innovative poetry, etc. you'll like this book. Check out other things Coach House has to offer, too. They're a smallish press but they publish amazing stuff. Also if you like Eunoia you should try Christian's other book, Crystallography. It's more visually oriented than Eunoia but just as enjoyable.