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Lipogram
A lipogram (from , ''leipográmmatos'', "leaving out a letter" is a kind of constrained writing or word game consisting of writing paragraphs or longer works in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided.McArthur, Tom (1992). ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', p. 612. Oxford University Press. Extended Ancient Greek texts avoiding the letter sigma are the earliest examples of lipograms.Motte Jr, Warren F (1986). "Oulipo: A Primer of Potential Literature", pp. 100–101 University of Nebraska Press. Writing a lipogram may be a trivial task when avoiding uncommon letters like ''Z'', ''J'', ''Q'', or ''X'', but it is much more challenging to avoid Letter frequency, common letters like ''E'', ''T'', or ''A'' in the English language, as the author must omit many ordinary words. Grammatically meaningful and smooth-flowing lipograms can be difficult to compose. Identifying lipograms can also be problematic, as there is always the possibility that a given pie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gadsby (novel)
''Gadsby'' is a 1939 in literature, 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, written without words that contain the letter E (letter), E, the most common letter in English. A work that deliberately avoids certain letters is known as a lipogram. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of protagonist John Gadsby and a youth organizer. Though vanity publishing, vanity published and little noticed in its time, the book has since become a favorite of fans of constrained writing and is a sought-after rarity among some book collectors. The first edition carries on title page and cover the Subtitle (titling), subtitle ''A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter "E"'' (with the variant ''50,000 Word Novel Without the Letter "E"'' on the dust jacket), sometimes dropped from late reprints. Lipogrammatic quality In the introduction to the book (which, not being part of the story, does contain the letter 'e' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Dunn
Mark Dunn (born July 12, 1956, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American author and playwright. He studied film at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) followed by post-graduate work in screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin moving to New York in 1987 where he worked in the New York Public Library while writing plays in his free time. Among the 35 plays Dunn has written (as of 2023), ''Belles'' and ''Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain'' have been produced over one 150 times. Dunn served as playwright-in-residence with the New Jersey Repertory Company and the Community Theatre League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Dunn is the author of the popular "progressively lipogrammatic" novel '' Ella Minnow Pea'' (2001). In 1998, Dunn sued the writers, distributors and producers of ''The Truman Show'', claiming that the story was based on a play he had written and performed Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pangram
A pangram or holoalphabetic sentence is a sentence using every letter of a given alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and typing. Origins The best-known English pangram is "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". It has been used since at least the late 19th century and was used by Western Union to test Telex/ TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability. Pangrams like this are now used by a number of computer programs to display computer typefaces. Short pangrams Short pangrams in English are more difficult to devise and tend to use uncommon words and unnatural sentences. Longer pangrams afford more opportunity for humor, cleverness, or thoughtfulness. The following are examples of pangrams that are shorter than "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (which has 35 letters) and use standard written English without abbreviations or proper nouns: *"Quick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Void
''A Void'', translated from the original French ( "The Disappearance"), is a 300-page French lipogrammatic novel, written in 1969 by Georges Perec, entirely without using the letter '' e'', following Oulipo constraints. Perec would go on to write with the inverse constraint in ''Les Revenentes'', with only the vowel “e” present in the work. Ian Monk would later translate ''Les Revenentes'' into English under the title ''The Exeter Text.'' Translations It was translated into English by Gilbert Adair, with the title ''A Void'', for which he won the Scott Moncrieff Prize in 1995. The Adair translation of the book also won the 1996 Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Fiction. Three other English translations are titled ''A Vanishing'' by Ian Monk, ''Vanish'd!'' by John Lee, and ''Omissions'' by Julian West. All translators have imposed upon themselves a similar lipogrammatic constraint to the original, avoiding the most commonly used letter of the alphabet. This p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tryphiodorus
Tryphiodorus (; 3rd or 4th century AD) was an epic poet from Panopolis (today Akhmim), Egypt. His only surviving work is ''The Sack of Troy'', an epic poem in 691 verses. Other recorded titles include ''Marathoniaca'' and ''The Story of Hippodamea''. During his lifetime he was known as Triphiodorus ( local god of Akhim. The confusion between the two spellings occurred already in the sixth century AD due to the widespread confusion of the pronunciation of i/y. A false etymology claims spelling "Tryphiodorus" is based on the Greek word "truphē," meaning "luxury" or "extravagance". Life There is little known about the life of Triphiodorus other than two entries in the Byzantine encyclopedia the ''Suda'' (T 1111 and 1112), thought to refer to the same individual. The ''Suda'' provides his place of birth, that he was a grammarian and epic poet, but not when he lived. Traditionally he was dated to the fifth century because he was thought to imitate the '' Dionysiaca'' of Nonnus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oulipo
Oulipo (, short for ; roughly translated as "workshop of potential literature", stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works using constrained writing techniques. It was founded in 1960 by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. Other notable members have included novelists Georges Perec and Italo Calvino, poets Oskar Pastior and Jean Lescure, and poet/mathematician Jacques Roubaud. The group defines the term ''littérature potentielle'' as (rough translation): "the seeking of new structures and patterns which may be used by writers in any way they enjoy". Queneau described Oulipians as "rats who construct the labyrinth from which they plan to escape." Constraints are used as a means of triggering ideas and inspiration, most notably Perec's "story-making machine", which he used in the construction of '' Life: A User's Manual''. As well as established techniques, such as lipograms (Perec's novel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Univocalic
A univocalic is a type of antilipogrammatic constrained writing that uses only consonants and a single vowel, in English "A", "E", "I", "O", or "U", and no others. Examples *One of the best-known univocalic poems was written by C.C. Bombaugh in 1890 using "O". Bombaugh's work is still in print. An example couplet: ::No cool monsoons blow soft on Oxford dons, ::Orthodox, jog-trot, book-worm Solomons *The Austrian poet Ernst Jandl composed his univocalic poem " ottos mops" ("Otto's Pug") from German words with only the vowel "O". *A contemporary example of English-language univocalic poems is Canadian poet Christian Bök's text ''Eunoia'', published by Coach House Press in 2001. Each chapter is restricted to a single vowel, missing four of the five vowels. For example the fourth chapter contains only "O". A typical sentence from this chapter is "Profs from Oxford show frosh who do post-docs how to gloss works of Wordsworth."McArthur, Tom (1992). ''The Oxford Companion to the Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Letter Frequency
Letter frequency is the number of times letters of the alphabet appear on average in written language. Letter frequency analysis dates back to the Arab mathematician Al-Kindi (c. AD 801–873), who formally developed the method to break ciphers. Letter frequency analysis gained importance in Europe with the development of movable type in AD 1450, wherein one must estimate the amount of type required for each letterform. Linguists use letter frequency analysis as a rudimentary technique for language identification, where it is particularly effective as an indication of whether an unknown writing system is alphabetic, syllabic, or ideographic. The use of letter frequencies and frequency analysis plays a fundamental role in cryptograms and several word puzzle games, including hangman, ''Scrabble'', '' Wordle'' and the television game show '' Wheel of Fortune''. One of the earliest descriptions in classical literature of applying the knowledge of English letter frequency to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ella Minnow Pea
''Ella Minnow Pea'' is a 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. The full title of the hardcover version is ''Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable'', while the paperback version is titled ''Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters'' or ''Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel without Letters''. Plot summary The plot is conveyed through mail or notes sent between various characters. The book is "progressively lipogrammatic"—as the story proceeds, more and more letters of the alphabet are excluded from the characters' writing. As letters disappear, the novel becomes more and more phonetically or creatively spelled, and requires more effort to interpret. The novel is set on the fictitious island of Nollop, off the coast of South Carolina, which is home to Nevin Nollop, the supposed creator of the well-known pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is preserved on a memorial statue to its creator on the island and is taken very seriously by the government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constrained Writing
Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern. Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. Description Constraints on writing are common and can serve a variety of purposes. For example, a text may place restrictions on its vocabulary, e.g. Basic English, copula-free text, defining vocabulary for dictionaries, and other limited vocabularies for teaching English as a second language or to children. In poetry, formal constraints abound in both mainstream and experimental work. Familiar elements of poetry like rhyme and meter are often applied as constraints. Well-established verse forms like the sonnet, sestina, villanelle, limerick, and haiku are variously constrained by meter, rhyme, repetition, length, and other characteristics. Outside of established traditions, particularly in the avant-garde, writers have produced a var ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willard R
Willard may refer to: People * Willard (name) Geography Places in the United States * Willard, Colorado * Willard, Georgia * Willard, Kansas * Willard, Kentucky * Willard, Michigan, a small unincorporated community in Beaver Township, Bay County, Michigan * Willard, Missouri * Willard, New Mexico * Willard, New York * Willard, North Carolina * Willard, Ohio * Willard, Utah * Willard Bay, Utah, a reservoir * South Willard, Utah * Willard, Virginia * Willard, Washington * Willard, Rusk County, Wisconsin, a town * Willard, Clark County, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community * Willards, Maryland Places other than settlements * The Willard InterContinental Washington, a historic hotel in Washington, DC * Willard House (other), several houses * Willard Residential College, a Northwestern University residential hall * J. Willard Marriott Library, at the University of Utah * University of Illinois Willard Airport * Willard Drug Treatment Center, a specialized s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Les Revenentes
LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental Satellite series, 1960s and 1970s Biology and medicine * Lazy eye syndrome, or amblyopia, a disorder in the human optic nerve * The Liverpool epidemic strain of ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' * Lower esophageal sphincter * Lupus erythematosus systemicus Places * The Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City * Les, Catalonia, a municipality in Spain * Leş, a village in Nojorid Commune, Bihor County, Romania * ''Les'', the Hungarian name for Leșu Commune, Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Romania * Les, a village in Tejakula district, Buleleng regency, Bali, Indonesia * Lesotho, IOC and UNDP country code * Lès, a word featuring in many French placenames Transport * Leigh-on-Sea railway station, National Rail station code * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
