HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Le Train de Nulle Part
OR:
Le Train de Nulle Part on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

{{More citations needed, date=October 2010 ''Le Train de Nulle Part'' (''The Train from Nowhere'') is a 233-page
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
, written in 2004 by a French doctor of letters, Michel Dansel, under the
pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
Michel Thaler. Notable as an example of constrained writing, the entire novel is written without a single verb. In the novel's preface, Thayer called the verb an "invader, dictator, usurper of our literature". Considering the novel a step towards literature comparable with the artistic impact of Dadaism and
surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
, Thaler surmised, "The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish. Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself." Thaler went so far as to organize a well-attended, tongue-in-cheek funeral for the verb, at the Sorbonne in Paris.


Sample

''Quelle aubaine ! Une place de libre, ou presque, dans ce compartiment. Une escale provisoire, pourquoi pas ! Donc, ma nouvelle adresse dans ce train de nulle part : voiture 12, 3e compartiment dans le sens de la marche. Encore une fois, pourquoi pas ?'' What luck! A vacant seat, almost, in that compartment. A provisional stop, why not? So, my new address in this nowhere train: car 12, 3rd compartment from the front. Once again, why not?


See also

* '' Gadsby'', a novel without the letter ''e''. * '' A Void'', another, considerably later, novel with the 'no ''e restriction. *"
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th-century Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentinian journal '' Sur'', May 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, se ...
", a story which contains a fictional world of people whose language contains no nouns.


External links


Le train de nulle part
(beginning of the novel)

Train de Nulle Part, Le Word games