A Void by Georges Perec

The Case of the Missing Man & Letter “E"

Author, Georges Perec

A Void by Georges Perec is not your ordinary novel.  It’s a lipogram, a literary work that omits a particular letter or word. This book is entirely “void” of the letter “E.” That’s right, you will not find the letter “e” anywhere (except the author’s name).  Imagine not using the letter “e” in even a paragraph, let alone an entire book. In the previous sentences I've already used the letter “e” thirty-five times. But it gets more amazing than that.  This book was originally written in French then translated to English!  I’ll say it again. It’s amazing!  The story is about a group of friends who try to solve the disappearance of their friend, Anton Vowl.  I grant you, it can be a tad confusing and hard to follow at times. But the book itself is such an accomplishment, I think it’s worth checking out. 

Do you have to be crazy to write a book like this? Probably not, but maybe it helps.

An involuntary convulsion shook his childish body, causing him not only to burst into sobs, but soil his pants.

Georges Perec, A Void (Paris: Editions Denoël, under the name La Disparition, 1969; reprint, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1994), 133.

But dragging his limp body forward with a strain that’s almost inhuman, grasping, choking, sobbing, sobbing as an infant might sob, and cursing his long, stubborn opposition to submitting his body to mithridatisation, his chums constantly told him to do, Amaury finally crawls out again into a dark corridor.

Georges Perec, A Void (Paris: Editions Denoël, under the name La Disparition, 1969; reprint, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1994), 203.

Happy reading, perusing book scanning!

Anntt