''A Void'', translated from the original French ( "The Disappearance"), is a 300-page French

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 ...

matic

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, written in 1969 by

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 ...

, entirely without using the letter '' e'', following

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 ...

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 Gilbert Adair (29 December 19448 December 2011) was a Scottish novelist, poet, film critic, and journalist.Stuart Jeffries and Ronald BerganObituary: Gilbert Adair ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2011. He was critically most famous for the "fien ...

, with the title ''A Void'', for which he won the

Scott Moncrieff Prize The Scott Moncrieff Prize, established in 1965, and named after the translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, is an annual £3,000 literary prize for French-to-English translation, awarded to one or more translators every year for a full-length work deem ...

in 1995. The Adair translation of the book also won the 1996

Firecracker Alternative Book Award The Firecracker Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards focusing on small-press publishing. Previously known as the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards (FABs), in the current form they are known as the CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independ ...

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 An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

. This precludes the use of words normally considered essential such as ("I"), ("and"), and (masculine "the") in French, as well as "me", "be", and "the" in English. The Spanish version contains no '' a'', which is the second most commonly used letter in the Spanish language (first being ''e''), while the Russian version contains no о. The Japanese version does not use syllables containing the sound "i" (, , , etc.) at all.

Plot summary

''A Void'' plot follows a group of individuals looking for a missing companion, Anton Vowl. It is in part a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of '' noir'' and

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

, with many stylistic tricks, gags, plot twists, and a grim conclusion. On many occasions it implicitly talks about its own lipogrammatic limitation, highlighting its unusual syntax. ''A Void'' protagonists finally work out which symbol is missing, but find it a hazardous topic to discuss, as any who try to bypass this story's constraint risk fatal injury. Philip Howard, writing a lipogrammatic appraisal of ''A Void'' in his column ''Lost Words'', said: "This is a story chock-full of plots and sub-plots, of loops within loops, of trails in pursuit of trails, all of which allow its author an opportunity to display his customary virtuosity as an avant-gardist magician, acrobat and clown."

Major themes

Both of Georges Perec's parents perished in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

: his father as a soldier and his mother in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. He was brought up by his aunt and uncle after surviving the war.

Warren Motte Warren F. Motte is a Professor of French language, French and Comparative Literature at the University of Colorado Boulder. His focus is contemporary writing, with an emphasis upon experimental, avant-garde, or other subversive forms of both ficti ...

interprets the absence of the letter ''e'' in the book as a metaphor for Perec's own sense of loss and incompleteness:

Versions

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References

External links