Comments
Lupercali OP t1_ixulpeu wrote
Yes, and it presented great difficulties for translators when it was published in English, as, for a start, the actual name of the book in English contained the letter e.
paolog t1_ixumwqq wrote
The literal translation would be "The Disappearance"* (three e's), but I think they renamed it "A Void".
The point of the book was that "e" is the most common letter in French, making it hard to write, and in various other languages too, making it hard to translate. ("The" is one of the most common words in the English language.)
* Ironic, considering the fate of the book.
SlightlyScruffy t1_ixunsj5 wrote
Check out oulipo for more.
PolybiusNightmare t1_ixuo8k2 wrote
I am a good work … guy
You’re fired
But I didn’t say
You will
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Lupercali OP t1_ixuobjj wrote
You reminded me of the excellent novel Ella Minnow Pea, written as a diary, on an island where the government progressively bans letter of the alphabet until it becomes virtually impossible to write.
SlightlyScruffy t1_ixuom61 wrote
I've read that too. Nice. I've got an entire book of different oulipo, some of which is hard going.
ndothammy t1_ixupibu wrote
But fired has an e too
risk_is_our_business t1_ixuppxk wrote
I guess the warehouse had no mrgncy xits.
xdzgor t1_ixurzrd wrote
You mean the warhous
ChrisWilding t1_ixutgnw wrote
The perfect book for /r/AVoid5/
GusHowsleyESQ t1_ixuvz3c wrote
How did the author put his name on it? It contains the letter E.
[deleted] t1_ixuwxdq wrote
[deleted]
risk_is_our_business t1_ixv0u88 wrote
Perhaps I should have said fir supprssion systm.
mikeonmaui t1_ixv2aqk wrote
It burnt in a fir
M0rqu1ng4 t1_ixv3yyk wrote
E is also the most common letter in English usage - E, T, A, O, N, R, I, S and H in that order, if I recall correctly...
Splarnst t1_ixv4m7o wrote
I mean burnt is right there.
SignificantView1671 t1_ixv7ec3 wrote
That's crazy. How could you ink down a book without it occurring?
Downtown-Regret-505 t1_ixvde06 wrote
Mr. Burns was going to fire Lenny unless he could convince him to keep his job without using the letter "E"
I am convinced the writers were referencing this book...some 30 years later I finally get the reference.
(Lenny did come out with a great sentence - "I'm a good work guy" - but Burns fired him anyway.)
DaedalusRaistlin t1_ixvfiv1 wrote
I think the foreword page was the only place he used the letter e, to explain to the reader the premise of no e. Everything after that adhered to the rule.
SplendidPunkinButter t1_ixvha0f wrote
A lack of ports allowing dispatch of any books within
This is how said author actually did it, and you might find it is difficult to scan
RandoCalrissian11 t1_ixvmust wrote
What’s a pirates favorite letter?
You’d think it’s Rrrrrr but it’s actually the C!
RandoCalrissian11 t1_ixvn0na wrote
Don’t worry. Lenny was rehired.
aSimpleWardrobe t1_ixvskll wrote
I assume Q or Z are rarest?
FrankieMint t1_ixvu5bw wrote
It's the word burned without the e.
greychanjin t1_ixvuwnl wrote
W all knw whr you wr going with this
TheLastWeird t1_ixvv40e wrote
Let’s get Dimitri Martin to re-write it.
M0rqu1ng4 t1_ixvxse2 wrote
Yes, along with X and J. The numbers of tiles of each letter in Scrabble is a good indicator - different languages have different letter frequencies (and therefore different numbers of tiles in Scrabble).
Cetun t1_ixvzq20 wrote
There was a guy on Reddit who had a comet history years long that had never used the letter H or or F or something.
ZhouDa t1_ixwdugl wrote
It burnt in a conflagration, as it had a low oxidation point.
InappropriateTA t1_ixwq128 wrote
It’s actually because nobody saw any trees during the conflagration, so nobody thought to pull the Fir Alarm.
flen_el_fouleni t1_ixwxa7v wrote
It burnt in flam
zoomzoomboomdoom t1_ixx0ifw wrote
The e missing in lction, nxt up was a big fat F, that's whr it Fuckin' wnt.
Offbeatsofa t1_ixx2234 wrote
There's a subreddit dedicated to the same idea, r/aVoid5
squigs t1_ixy9h10 wrote
I can spot what you did in this post!
Nightblade t1_ixyezco wrote
More accurately, I think, it uses words that do not contain the letter 'e'.
From Wikipedia:
> The book's opening two paragraphs are as follows: > > If Youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn't constantly run across folks today who claim that "a child don't know anything." A child's brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult's act, and figuring out its purport. > > Up to about its primary school days a child thinks, naturally, only of play. But many a form of play contains disciplinary factors. "You can't do this," or "that puts you out," shows a child that it must think, practically, or fail. Now, if, throughout childhood, a brain has no opposition, it is plain that it will attain a position of "status quo," as with our ordinary animals. Man knows not why a cow, dog or lion was not born with a brain on a par with ours; why such animals cannot add, subtract, or obtain from books and schooling, that paramount position which Man holds today. >
Scat_fiend t1_ixyldgk wrote
Which set off a series of events which caused world war 2. Thanks Ernie!
LanceaRupta t1_ixulfao wrote
French author Georges Perec did it too in a book named "La Disparition" published in 1969