A Void

In the 1960’s, La Disparition, a very odd novel written by Georges Perec appeared on the literary scene.  The novel—over 200 pages in length—made quite a stir, though not for the contents or literary parallels.  The novel made a splash for lacking something.

The author wrote the entire novel without ever using the letter “e.” 

Consider this: the letter “e” is the commonest letter used in writing.  This letter appears in writing something near 13 percent of the time.  The novel appeared originally in French, but was later translated into English under the title: A Void.

Stop for a moment and try to compose a few sentences without using an “e.”

It isn’t easy.   You cannot even use “the” in a sentence.   Following is a slice of what the author created:

“Today, by radio, and also on giant hoardings, a rabbi, an admiral notorious for his links to masonry, a trio of cardinals, a trio, too, of insignificant politicians…”

The reason for writing in this manner wholly evades me.

Why work so hard to maintain a hole?  How radically must we alter our normal process to get attention?   At what point does the means by which we alter our approach to creating a result become more important than the result itself?

Equivalents to this kind of writing exist in our lives, too.  Think about the aging spinster who excluded entirely from her life all relations with men.  Consider the man who will not associate in any fashion with anyone from the opposite political party.

I am not sure we are meant to try this hard.

I, for one, shall never abandon you, “e.”

—Mitchell Hegman