''Eunoia'' (2001) is an anthology of
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 ...
s by Canadian poet
Christian Bök
Christian Bök, FRSC (; born August 10, 1966, in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian poet known for his experimental works. He is the author of ''Eunoia'', which won the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.
Life and work
He was born "Christian Book", but ...
. Each chapter is written using words limited to consonants and a single
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
, producing sentences like: "Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal".
[ The author believes "his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language."]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 wa ...
group, which seeks to create works using 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.
D ...
techniques.
The book was published in Canada in 2001 by Coach House Books; sold 20,000 copies; and won the 2002 Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is a Canadian poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.
Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. I ...
.[ ]Canongate Books
Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prize winning novel '' Life of Pi'' (2001 ...
published a British edition in 2008. The book sold well in the United Kingdom, making ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' list of the year's top 10 books and becoming the top-selling book of poetry in Britain.eunoia
In rhetoric, ''eunoia'' () is the good will that speakers cultivate between themselves and their audiences, a condition of receptivity. In Book VIII of the ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Aristotle uses the term to refer to the kind and benevolent feel ...
, which literally means ''good thinking'', is a medical term for the state of normal mental health
Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
, and is also the shortest word in the English language which contains all five vowels. The cover features a chromatic representation of Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism.
Born in Charleville, he s ...
's sonnet " Voyelles" (Vowels) in which each vowel is assigned a particular colour and consonants appear grey.
The "E" chapter was set to music by Kate Soper
Kate Soper (born 1943) is a British philosopher. She is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton. in her chamber piece ''Helen Enfettered''.
Sections
Eunoia
The main section of the book consists of five chapters: " A", " E", " I", " O" and " U". In each of these chapters, the only vowel used is the same one as the title. For example, in Chapter A, the only vowel used is "A". There are other rules given to each of the chapters.
* Each of the chapters must refer to the art of writing.[Bök, p. 104.]
* The text must include as many words as possible. The postscript of the book says that each chapter uses at least 98% of the available words.Hans Arp
Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist.
Early life
Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...
, René Crevel, Dick Higgins
Dick Higgins (15 March 1938 – 25 October 1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement (and community). Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was ...
, Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...
, and Zhu Yu, respectively. The postscript of the book implies that Chapter E is a retelling of the ''Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
''.
Oiseau
"Oiseau", meaning "bird", is the shortest word in the French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
to use all five vowels. This section contains the following chapters.
*"And Sometimes": A list of all the words in English which contain no vowels.homophonic
Homophony and Homophonic are from the Greek language, Greek ὁμόφωνος (''homóphōnos''), literally 'same sounding,' from ὁμός (''homós''), "same" and φωνή (''phōnē''), "sound". It may refer to:
*Homophones − words with the s ...
version of " Voyelles" by Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism.
Born in Charleville, he s ...
.elegy
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
to the letter " W", dedicated to Georges Perec
Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Ho ...
.
*"Emended Excess": A second poem using all the words that fit the rules for Chapter E but aren't used.[Bök, p. 105.]
Notes
References
*Bök, Christian. ''Eunoia'', Coach House Books, 2001, {{ISBN, 1-55245-092-9
External links
The online version of ''Eunoia''
at the publisher's website
read by Steve Venright, at UbuWeb
UbuWeb is a "a pirate shadow library consisting of hundreds of thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts." It offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives. The site was created by ...
A selection
posted by BBC Radio 4
2001 anthologies
Canadian poetry collections
Lipograms
Coach House Press books