{~} oulipo
#oulipo: intentional writing
much of what we say is worded almost unconsciously, as our brains find the most convenient word to say what we want to say with minimal energy and time expenditure.
oulipo is a movement which emerged in the french literary scene in the early 20th century. pushing the spirit of modernist pioneering into the realm of grammar and the means of expression at a fundamental
level, it came up with a variety of, one of which is the lipogram, the best known of the oulipo's « procédés ». it consists in the proscription of the letter E from a text, E being the most common lett
er in french (and, i wouldn't be surprised, english); an entire book was thus written by georges perec titled « la disparition », "the disappearance".
the rules
articles are obligatory in french grammar: lipogrammatic rules forbid the use of "le", "une", "de", "des", "les", "mes", "tes", "ses", "leur(s)", "votre", ie all plural and most possessive articles. in en
glish, "the" is the most notable word which is banned. in french, other notable words include et (and), elle (she), je (I).