Book Without Verbs

A recent Telegraph article discusses Le Train de Nulle Part (The Train from Nowhere). The 233-page book, supposedly the first of its kind, contains no verbs. Despite the author’s lauding over its experimental style of prose, reviews of the book have been abysmal. The infamous novel with no ‘e’ is also mentioned.

May 9, 2004 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. daidy says:
    May 10, 2004 at 6:16 pm

    Nobody expects
    The author, a doctor of literature who admits that “Thaler” is a pseudonym, and who has not previously written books under the name, said it was liberating to write without verbs, which he describes as “invaders, dictators, and usurpers of our literature“.

    the verbish inquisition!

    Reply
  2. Karl says:
    May 10, 2004 at 8:48 pm

    Another lipogram…
    I tried to read A Void, the English translation of Perec’s lipogrammatic novel (one of the “ones without an ‘e'”) and couldn’t finish it. The plot was just too odd. However, I did read and enjoy Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable by Mark Dunn. The book begins normally, but drops letters progressively as it goes on. It’s not merely a device, but is essential to the plot. Cover blurbs paint the book as whimsical and amusing, and it was funny in spots, but I also found it to have some thoughtful political/social commentary. I’d really recommend it.

    Reply

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