I learned of this book and this type of writing exercises from a daily trivia entry on my PC. In doing more research, I found the whole concept intriguing. As a writer I respond to writing prompts to help get creative ideas flowing. This type of exercise seemed extreme to say the least. There are many more examples of this "restrictive" writing but I think this may have been one of the first major works published. I have included a poem I wrote to commemorate this great literary work.
GADSBY
There's a great old book called Gadsby
that you really have to see
The entire book was written
without a letter "E"
Written as a lipogram
a writing exercise
50,000 words
and it should have won a prize
It hardly got a mention
back in nineteen thirty nine
The author died soon after
with scarcely a history line
In our english language
letter "E" is the most used
How to write this book then
would have me quite confused
You can't use "one"or "three" or "five"
and "seven through ten" taboo
No "Mr." or "Mrs." no "the" "me" or "we"
"chapter" and "verse" eschew
The author describes how letter "E's"
as animated figures
Would climb his arm and ride his pen
the crafty little wrigglers
They'd wait for any little chance
to slip onto his page
He said he'd have to chase them off
with sudden fits of rage
When it came time for typing
the answer was quite plain
He tied the letter "E's" arm down
and there it would remain
Ernest Vincent Wright
he clearly was a master
But in his day he was ignored
it's such a great disaster
I've read the book and liked it
it really is a pleasure
From reading it alone
you wouldn't know you had a treasure
The tale is of John Gadsby
who lives in Branton Hills
He sees his town has gone to seed
and remedies these ills
He gets a youth group started
and soon the town's reviving
John becomes the Mayor
and the children all are thriving
There's many other samples
of this restrictive writing
I think this was a first
why this one's so inviting
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Top reviews from other countries
Parsec
Eher ein Kuriosum als ein lesenswerter Roman
Reviewed in Germany on June 5, 2020Amazon Customer
The printing house should be penalised from violating the premise
Reviewed in India on November 21, 2017
Dave H
An amazing opus of lipography
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2015
