576:, later translated into Malayalam and English. The Tamil words "oru" and "ondru" (the English equivalents are "a", "an" and "one") have not been mentioned anywhere in the novel, except one chapter. Keeping with the numerological theme of Zero Degree, the only numbers expressed in either words or symbols are numerologically equivalent to nine (with the exception of two chapters). This Oulipian ban includes the very common word one. Many sections of the book are written entirely without punctuation, or using only periods.
772:, a weekly 6-panel comic strip in which the first half of the story was illustrated and captioned right-side-up, then the reader would turn the page up-side-down, and the inverted illustrations with additional captions describing the scenes told the second half of the story, for a total of 12 panels.
371:
method of construction. The book is set in a fictional
Parisian block of flats, where Perec devises the elevation of the building as a 10×10 grid: 10 storeys, including basements and attics and 10 rooms across, including 2 for the stairwell. Each room is assigned to a chapter, and the order of the
513:
in which the first chapter only uses words that begin with the letter "a", while the second chapter incorporates the letter "b", and then "c", etc. Once the alphabet is finished, Abish takes letters away, one at a time, until the last chapter, leaving only words that begin with the letter
1088:, created a three-level acronymic poem. Beginning with a name a verse was created for which the name was the acronym. This verse was then expanded, and then again. The final verse is 224 words long (which means the previous verse, its corresponding acronym, contains 224 letters).
748:, and published in 2023 by Kernpunkt Press. "It concerns a community of artists and others, engaging in their lives and figuring things out. A Oulipian experiment wherein things fall apart."
115:
Mandated vocabulary, where the writer must include specific words (for example, Quadrivial
Quandary solicits individual sentences containing all four words in a daily selection).
481:
99:, writers have produced a variety of work under more severe constraints; this is often what the term "constrained writing" is specifically applied to. For example:
1043:
978:
902:, in which the Hebrew poem sounds identical to the Italian one, both making full sense – see Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2006), "Shir Du-Leshoni" (Bilingual Poem),
581:
615:) by Peter Vorobieff is written in Russian without any words borrowed from English, French, Latin, or modern German since the 17th century (similar to
118:
Bilingual homophonous poetry, where the poem makes sense in two different languages at the same time, constituting two simultaneous homophonous poems.
332:
290:: three lines average 14–16 syllables, for a total of 44–46: theme (3, 4,4,4); elaboration (3,4,4,4); counter-theme (3,5) and completion (4,3).
486:
827:
720:
wrote multiple epics (Satisha Bilasa, Kala
Kautuka, Baidehisha Bilasha, etc.) with the same syllable at the beginning of each sentence.
800:
is created with a number of formal constraints; issue #5 in particular, entitled "Fearful
Symmetry", follows a palindromic structure.
1072:
727:
1107:, a community website that challenges participants to write a single sentence containing all four words in a daily selection
784:. Each four-panel comic has identical artwork. The only change between each comic is the dialogue in the first three panels.
585:, author Jonathan Ruffian rearranges given sentences containing the word "gun" as found on the internet into microfiction.
41:
Constraints on writing are common and can serve a variety of purposes. For example, a text may place restrictions on its
1052:
445:
58:
1040:
975:
218:
Chaterism, where the length of words in a phrase or sentence increases or decreases in a uniform, mathematical way.
1100:
64:
In poetry, formal constraints abound in both mainstream and experimental work. Familiar elements of poetry like
193:
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552:
1126:
841:
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Brian Raiter, a computer programmer, wrote a more than 4,000-word article explaining Albert
Einstein's
723:
466:
454:
309:(1939) is an English-language novel consisting of 50,000 words, none of which contain the letter "e".
230:, which involves erasing words from an existing text and framing the result on the page as a poem.
411:
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26:
in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.
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There are a number of constrained writing forms that are restricted by length, including:
92:
are variously constrained by meter, rhyme, repetition, length, and other characteristics.
8:
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322:, a novel that did not include the letter "e". It was translated into English in 1995 by
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Literary technique in which the writer is forced to follow a given rule, pattern, etc.
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215:; the result looks sensible as writing but is very confusing when read aloud.
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149:
96:
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146:: first letter of each word/sentence/paragraph forms a word or sentence.
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are often applied as constraints. Well-established verse forms like the
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434:
326:. Perec subsequently joked that he incorporated the "e"s not used into
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where the whole text is just two sentences, one of which is very long.
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is a book using the same constraint based on the first 10,000 digits.
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125:
152:: first letter of each word/verse/section goes through the alphabet.
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600:) is written entirely with paragraphs comprising a single sentence.
348:
277:
265:
221:
143:
137:
947:
by Scott McLemee, The
Chronicle of Higher Education, June 2, 2004.
184:, words or sentences formed by rearranging the letters of another.
33:, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form.
809:
616:
271:
239:
181:
174:, where the lengths of consecutive words match the digits of the
165:
77:
50:
538:, also known as Dr. Seuss, wrote the well-known children's book
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851:
816:
458:
in which all 1000 characters are unique without any repetition.
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376:
235:
171:
168:, favouring Anglo-Saxon words over Greek and Roman/Latin words.
73:
30:
644:(2006), an erasure of the Victorian novel of the same name by
57:
for dictionaries, and other limited vocabularies for teaching
1091:
1069:, site with many pieces of constrained writing by Mike Keith.
770:
The Upside Downs of Little Lady
Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo
259:
238:
group is a gathering of writers who use such techniques. The
198:
159:
89:
65:
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Urban
Legends Reference Pages: Language (Green Eggs and Ham)
501:
where certain letters become unusable throughout the novel.
401:
287:
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which uses the same artwork, with only dialogue changing.
262:: ~ 3 lines (5–7–5 syllables or 2–3–2 beats recommended.)
898:– Italo-Hebraic Bilingual Homophonous Poem by linguist
568:
is a postmodern lipogrammatic novel written in 1998 by
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448:", which consists of 92 characters, all with the sound
175:
95:
Outside of established traditions, particularly in the
996:"Erasure is a contemporary writing-practice KIN S FUR"
544:
using only 50 different words on a 50 dollar bet with
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that uses only one vowel in each of its five chapters.
284:
where a story or poem is exactly 140 characters long.
372:
chapters is given by the knight's moves on the grid.
969:
744:, a novel, was written entirely without the letter
1056:. Issue 7. October 2003. Retrieved on 2008-09-24.
280:: espoused as a specifically constrained form of
1118:
730:" has lyrics consisting entirely of palindromes.
532:, and other books using only monosyllabic words.
440:One famous piece of constrained writing in the
414:, uses only the words allotted to Ophelia in
343:(1972), which uses no vowels other than "e".
106:: each word must contain a particular letter.
691:'s erasure of a controversial tale from the
1024:"Grant Maierhofer Ebb Experimental Fiction"
808:which uses three identical panels based on
705:(2001) is a book-length acrostic about the
224:, where the reader supplies a random input.
976:Gorm, son of Hardecnut by Peter Vorobieff
944:A New Novel, No Verbs, in France, No Less
737:using only words of four letters or less.
211:, using many characters all of which are
140:: a letter (commonly e or o) is outlawed.
1086:Cipher and Poverty (The Book of Nothing)
588:Uruguayan musician, comedian and writer
489:in which no word is used more than once.
162:", read the same forwards and backwards.
880:
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915:
950:
668:(2011), an erasure of a biography of
353:The Exeter Text: Jewels, Secrets, Sex
1041:Comic Strips and Constrained Writing
410:(2008), a novel by the Welsh writer
187:Limitations in punctuation, such as
1010:"Short Words to Explain Relativity"
13:
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874:
473:to determine the length of words.
14:
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446:Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den
656:(2009), an erasure of poetry by
469:using the first 3835 digits of
347:was translated into English by
29:Constraints are very common in
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1002:
988:
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889:
194:True History of the Kelly Gang
36:
1:
1113:about constraint on ComixTalk
966:Accessed on 26 November 2006.
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777:The Angriest Dog in the World
400:was written entirely without
985:, Accessed on 16 April 2013.
916:Lundin, Leigh (2009-06-07).
896:Bilingual Homophonous Poetry
881:Andrews, Dale (2013-02-26).
59:English as a second language
7:
885:. Washington: SleuthSayers.
842:Controlled natural language
835:
423:Experimental Canadian poet
294:
10:
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455:Thousand Character Classic
924:. Orlando: Criminal Brief
752:
530:The Swiss Family Robinson
268:: 50 words, +15 for title
828:99 Ways to Tell a Story
383:in the Hebrew alphabet.
312:In 1969, French writer
112:, using only one vowel.
904:Ho!, Literary Magazine
815:The many works of the
695:(2018); and many more.
605:Gorm, Son of Hardecnut
465:" is a short story by
394:The Train from Nowhere
389:Le Train de Nulle Part
386:The 2004 French novel
244:theatrical constraints
1053:Image & Narrative
883:"Constrained Writing"
642:A Little White Shadow
553:The Gates of Paradise
301:Ernest Vincent Wright
757:Notable examples of
735:theory of relativity
646:Emily Malbone Morgan
609:Горм, сын Хёрдакнута
364:Life A User's Manual
205:One-syllable article
197:, which features no
158:, such as the word "
1127:Constrained writing
1098:Quadrivial Quandary
922:Constrained Writing
740:Grant Maierhofer's
724:"Weird Al" Yankovic
582:A Gun Is Not Polite
506:Alphabetical Africa
207:, a form unique to
131:Alphabetical Africa
55:defining vocabulary
20:Constrained writing
1103:2010-05-26 at the
1046:2018-04-13 at the
981:2015-02-15 at the
900:Ghil'ad Zuckermann
759:constrained comics
558:Jerzy Andrzejewski
541:Green Eggs and Ham
520:wrote versions of
209:Chinese literature
24:literary technique
857:Storytelling game
780:a comic strip by
712:The 17th-century
452:. Another is the
110:Univocalic poetry
104:Reverse-lipograms
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1076:by Christian Bök
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805:Partially Clips
789:Dinosaur Comics
766:Gustave Verbeek
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699:Anna Rabinowitz
658:Emily Dickinson
522:Robinson Crusoe
494:Ella Minnow Pea
463:Cadaeic Cadenza
408:let me tell you
375:Several of the
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330:in the novella
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1067:Cadaeic.net
928:28 February
823:Matt Madden
782:David Lynch
638:Mary Ruefle
590:Leo Maslíah
565:Zero Degree
482:Never Again
381:abecedarian
361:also wrote
336: [
274:: 100 words
242:group uses
189:Peter Carey
156:Palindromes
150:Abecedarius
97:avant-garde
37:Description
1132:Word games
1121:Categories
918:"L'Oulipo"
869:References
633:A Humument
487:Doug Nufer
475:Not A Wake
467:Mike Keith
435:univocalic
367:using the
316:published
213:homophones
126:tautograms
82:villanelle
43:vocabulary
726:'s song "
707:Holocaust
499:Mark Dunn
256:: 6 words
144:Acrostics
1101:Archived
1044:Archived
979:Archived
836:See also
797:Watchmen
703:Darkling
636:(1970);
626:include
603:A novel
349:Ian Monk
295:Examples
278:Twiction
266:Minisaga
222:Aleatory
191:'s book
182:Anagrams
176:number π
138:Lipogram
86:limerick
1111:Article
810:clipart
666:Of Lamb
624:erasure
617:Anglish
611:) (see
572:author
272:Drabble
240:Outrapo
228:Erasure
166:Anglish
78:sestina
45:, e.g.
1074:Eunoia
962:Snopes
852:Oulipo
819:group.
817:Oubapo
753:Comics
594:Líneas
430:Eunoia
417:Hamlet
377:Psalms
306:Gadsby
236:Oulipo
199:commas
172:Pilish
88:, and
74:sonnet
31:poetry
1084:, in
716:poet
598:Lines
570:Tamil
433:is a
402:verbs
396:) by
359:Perec
340:]
260:Haiku
160:radar
90:haiku
70:meter
66:rhyme
22:is a
930:2013
714:Odia
674:ALL
514:"a".
444:is "
379:are
288:Sijo
234:The
68:and
825:'s
768:'s
742:Ebb
728:Bob
701:'s
684:FUR
682:OF
676:KIN
664:'s
652:'s
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450:shi
427:'s
351:as
303:'s
124:or
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471:pi
338:fr
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