Knowledge (XXG)

Constrained writing

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587:, 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. 783:, 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. 382:
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
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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
1099:, 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). 759:, 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." 126:
Mandated vocabulary, where the writer must include specific words (for example, Quadrivial Quandary solicits individual sentences containing all four words in a daily selection).
110:, 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: 1054: 989: 913:, 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), 838: 626:) by Peter Vorobieff is written in Russian without any words borrowed from English, French, Latin, or modern German since the 17th century (similar to 129:
Bilingual homophonous poetry, where the poem makes sense in two different languages at the same time, constituting two simultaneous homophonous poems.
301:: 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). 738: 731:
wrote multiple epics (Satisha Bilasa, Kala Kautuka, Baidehisha Bilasha, etc.) with the same syllable at the beginning of each sentence.
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is created with a number of formal constraints; issue #5 in particular, entitled "Fearful Symmetry", follows a palindromic structure.
456: 69: 1083: 204: 1118:, a community website that challenges participants to write a single sentence containing all four words in a daily selection 795:. Each four-panel comic has identical artwork. The only change between each comic is the dialogue in the first three panels. 787: 596:, author Jonathan Ruffian rearranges given sentences containing the word "gun" as found on the internet into microfiction. 563: 52:
Constraints on writing are common and can serve a variety of purposes. For example, a text may place restrictions on its
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Chaterism, where the length of words in a phrase or sentence increases or decreases in a uniform, mathematical way.
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In poetry, formal constraints abound in both mainstream and experimental work. Familiar elements of poetry like
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Brian Raiter, a computer programmer, wrote a more than 4,000-word article explaining Albert Einstein's
745: 656: 320:(1939) is an English-language novel consisting of 50,000 words, none of which contain the letter "e". 215: 343: 1142: 660: 516: 141: 65: 241:, which involves erasing words from an existing text and framing the result on the page as a poem. 568: 551: 219: 37:
in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.
34: 497: 954: 893: 867: 634: 238: 96: 630:). The book also never uses many common words, including "human", "please", and "thank you". 452: 435: 379: 264: 114: 1115: 1058: 993: 872: 857: 815: 799: 776: 709: 668: 504: 473: 260:
There are a number of constrained writing forms that are restricted by length, including:
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are variously constrained by meter, rhyme, repetition, length, and other characteristics.
333:, a novel that did not include the letter "e". It was translated into English in 1995 by 967: 728: 703: 699: 672: 600: 584: 580: 329: 316: 80: 27:
Literary technique in which the writer is forced to follow a given rule, pattern, etc.
1131: 724: 440: 408: 369: 348: 334: 324: 57: 1034: 680: 623: 556: 521: 292: 132: 1121: 1020: 17: 139:, in which every word must start with the same letter (or subset of letters; see 833: 792: 648: 575: 391: 160: 107: 643: 528: 445: 166: 120: 92: 53: 1006: 226:; the result looks sensible as writing but is very confusing when read aloud. 717: 546: 509: 223: 136: 807: 359: 288: 276: 232: 154: 148: 906: 875:, a movement in comics in a sense opposite to that of constrained comics 157:: first letter of each word/sentence/paragraph forms a word or sentence. 83:
are often applied as constraints. Well-established verse forms like the
928: 820: 627: 337:. Perec subsequently joked that he incorporated the "e"s not used into 282: 250: 192: 176: 88: 61: 1105:, an independent publishing house dedicated to constrained literature. 571:
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.
427: 387: 246: 182: 84: 41: 163:: first letter of each word/verse/section goes through the alphabet. 611:) is written entirely with paragraphs comprising a single sentence. 958:
by Scott McLemee, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 2, 2004.
270: 209: 195:, words or sentences formed by rearranging the letters of another. 170: 100: 76: 44:, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form. 185:, where the lengths of consecutive words match the digits of the 549:, also known as Dr. Seuss, wrote the well-known children's book 412: 298: 1092: 469:
in which all 1000 characters are unique without any repetition.
179:, favouring Anglo-Saxon words over Greek and Roman/Latin words. 655:(2006), an erasure of the Victorian novel of the same name by 68:
for dictionaries, and other limited vocabularies for teaching
1102: 1080:, site with many pieces of constrained writing by Mike Keith. 781:
The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo
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group is a gathering of writers who use such techniques. The
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Urban Legends Reference Pages: Language (Green Eggs and Ham)
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where certain letters become unusable throughout the novel.
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which uses the same artwork, with only dialogue changing.
273:: ~ 3 lines (5–7–5 syllables or 2–3–2 beats recommended.) 909:– Italo-Hebraic Bilingual Homophonous Poem by linguist 579:
is a postmodern lipogrammatic novel written in 1998 by
459:", which consists of 92 characters, all with the sound 106:
Outside of established traditions, particularly in the
1007:"Erasure is a contemporary writing-practice KIN S FUR" 555:
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.
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where a story or poem is exactly 140 characters long.
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chapters is given by the knight's moves on the grid.
755:, a novel, was written entirely without the letter 1067:. Issue 7. October 2003. Retrieved on 2008-09-24. 291:: espoused as a specifically constrained form of 741:" has lyrics consisting entirely of palindromes. 543:, and other books using only monosyllabic words. 451:One famous piece of constrained writing in the 425:, uses only the words allotted to Ophelia in 354:(1972), which uses no vowels other than "e". 117:: each word must contain a particular letter. 8: 702:'s erasure of a controversial tale from the 1035:"Grant Maierhofer Ebb Experimental Fiction" 819:which uses three identical panels based on 716:(2001) is a book-length acrostic about the 235:, where the reader supplies a random input. 987:Gorm, son of Hardecnut by Peter Vorobieff 955:A New Novel, No Verbs, in France, No Less 748:using only words of four letters or less. 222:, using many characters all of which are 151:: a letter (commonly e or o) is outlawed. 1097:Cipher and Poverty (The Book of Nothing) 599:Uruguayan musician, comedian and writer 500:in which no word is used more than once. 173:", read the same forwards and backwards. 884: 679:(2011), an erasure of a biography of 364:The Exeter Text: Jewels, Secrets, Sex 7: 1052:Comic Strips and Constrained Writing 421:(2008), a novel by the Welsh writer 198:Limitations in punctuation, such as 1021:"Short Words to Explain Relativity" 484:to determine the length of words. 25: 457:Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den 667:(2009), an erasure of poetry by 480:using the first 3835 digits of 358:was translated into English by 40:Constraints are very common in 205:True History of the Kelly Gang 1: 1124:about constraint on ComixTalk 977:Accessed on 26 November 2006. 788:The Angriest Dog in the World 411:was written entirely without 996:, Accessed on 16 April 2013. 927:Lundin, Leigh (2009-06-07). 907:Bilingual Homophonous Poetry 892:Andrews, Dale (2013-02-26). 70:English as a second language 896:. Washington: SleuthSayers. 853:Controlled natural language 434:Experimental Canadian poet 1159: 466:Thousand Character Classic 935:. Orlando: Criminal Brief 541:The Swiss Family Robinson 279:: 50 words, +15 for title 839:99 Ways to Tell a Story 394:in the Hebrew alphabet. 323:In 1969, French writer 123:, using only one vowel. 915:Ho!, Literary Magazine 826:The many works of the 706:(2018); and many more. 616:Gorm, Son of Hardecnut 476:" is a short story by 405:The Train from Nowhere 400:Le Train de Nulle Part 397:The 2004 French novel 255:theatrical constraints 1064:Image & Narrative 894:"Constrained Writing" 653:A Little White Shadow 564:The Gates of Paradise 312:Ernest Vincent Wright 768:Notable examples of 746:theory of relativity 657:Emily Malbone Morgan 620:Горм, сын Хёрдакнута 375:Life A User's Manual 216:One-syllable article 208:, which features no 169:, such as the word " 1138:Constrained writing 1109:Quadrivial Quandary 933:Constrained Writing 751:Grant Maierhofer's 735:"Weird Al" Yankovic 593:A Gun Is Not Polite 517:Alphabetical Africa 218:, a form unique to 142:Alphabetical Africa 66:defining vocabulary 31:Constrained writing 1114:2010-05-26 at the 1057:2018-04-13 at the 992:2015-02-15 at the 911:Ghil'ad Zuckermann 770:constrained comics 569:Jerzy Andrzejewski 552:Green Eggs and Ham 531:wrote versions of 220:Chinese literature 35:literary technique 18:Constrained comics 868:Storytelling game 791:a comic strip by 723:The 17th-century 463:. Another is the 121:Univocalic poetry 115:Reverse-lipograms 16:(Redirected from 1150: 1087:by Christian Bök 1039: 1038: 1031: 1025: 1024: 1017: 1011: 1010: 1003: 997: 984: 978: 965: 959: 951: 945: 944: 942: 940: 924: 918: 904: 898: 897: 889: 665:The ms of my kin 453:Chinese language 352: 265:Six-Word Memoirs 72:or to children. 62:copula-free text 21: 1158: 1157: 1153: 1152: 1151: 1149: 1148: 1147: 1128: 1127: 1116:Wayback Machine 1103:Spineless Books 1074: 1059:Wayback Machine 1047: 1045:Further reading 1042: 1033: 1032: 1028: 1019: 1018: 1014: 1005: 1004: 1000: 994:Wayback Machine 985: 981: 966: 962: 952: 948: 938: 936: 926: 925: 921: 917:3, pp. 256–257. 905: 901: 891: 890: 886: 882: 873:Infinite canvas 858:One-letter word 849: 816:Partially Clips 800:Dinosaur Comics 777:Gustave Verbeek 766: 710:Anna Rabinowitz 669:Emily Dickinson 533:Robinson Crusoe 505:Ella Minnow Pea 474:Cadaeic Cadenza 419:let me tell you 386:Several of the 346: 341:in the novella 308: 50: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 1156: 1154: 1146: 1145: 1140: 1130: 1129: 1126: 1125: 1119: 1106: 1100: 1093:Mike Schertzer 1090: 1081: 1073: 1072:External links 1070: 1069: 1068: 1050:Baetens, Jan. 1046: 1043: 1041: 1040: 1026: 1012: 998: 979: 960: 946: 919: 899: 883: 881: 878: 877: 876: 870: 865: 860: 855: 848: 845: 844: 843: 831: 824: 812: 804: 796: 784: 765: 762: 761: 760: 749: 742: 732: 729:Upendra Bhanja 721: 707: 704:Brothers Grimm 700:Margaret Yocom 673:Matthea Harvey 631: 612: 603:'s 1999 novel 597: 588: 585:Charu Nivedita 572: 560: 547:Theodor Geisel 544: 537:Aesop's Fables 529:Mary Godolphin 526: 513: 501: 496:is a novel by 489: 470: 449: 432: 423:Paul Griffiths 416: 395: 384: 367: 356:Les Revenentes 344:Les Revenentes 339:La Disparition 330:La Disparition 321: 307: 304: 303: 302: 296: 286: 280: 274: 268: 243: 242: 236: 230: 227: 213: 196: 190: 180: 174: 164: 158: 152: 146: 130: 127: 124: 118: 49: 46: 26: 24: 14: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 1155: 1144: 1141: 1139: 1136: 1135: 1133: 1123: 1120: 1117: 1113: 1110: 1107: 1104: 1101: 1098: 1094: 1091: 1088: 1086: 1082: 1079: 1076: 1075: 1071: 1066: 1065: 1060: 1056: 1053: 1049: 1048: 1044: 1036: 1030: 1027: 1022: 1016: 1013: 1008: 1002: 999: 995: 991: 988: 983: 980: 976: 974: 969: 964: 961: 957: 956: 950: 947: 934: 930: 923: 920: 916: 912: 908: 903: 900: 895: 888: 885: 879: 874: 871: 869: 866: 864: 861: 859: 856: 854: 851: 850: 846: 841: 840: 835: 832: 829: 825: 822: 818: 817: 813: 810: 809: 805: 802: 801: 797: 794: 790: 789: 785: 782: 778: 775: 774: 773: 771: 763: 758: 754: 750: 747: 743: 740: 736: 733: 730: 726: 722: 719: 715: 711: 708: 705: 701: 697: 696: 692: 688: 682: 678: 674: 670: 666: 662: 658: 654: 650: 646: 645: 640: 636: 632: 629: 625: 621: 617: 613: 610: 606: 602: 598: 595: 594: 589: 586: 582: 578: 577: 573: 570: 567:is a book by 566: 565: 561: 558: 554: 553: 548: 545: 542: 538: 534: 530: 527: 523: 520:is a book by 519: 518: 514: 511: 508:is a book by 507: 506: 502: 499: 495: 494: 490: 487: 483: 479: 475: 471: 468: 467: 462: 458: 454: 450: 447: 443: 442: 437: 436:Christian Bök 433: 430: 429: 424: 420: 417: 414: 410: 409:Michel Thaler 406: 402: 401: 396: 393: 389: 385: 381: 380:Knight's Tour 377: 376: 371: 368: 365: 361: 357: 353: 350: 345: 340: 336: 335:Gilbert Adair 332: 331: 326: 325:Georges Perec 322: 319: 318: 313: 310: 309: 305: 300: 297: 294: 290: 287: 284: 281: 278: 275: 272: 269: 266: 263: 262: 261: 258: 256: 252: 248: 240: 237: 234: 231: 228: 225: 221: 217: 214: 211: 207: 206: 201: 197: 194: 191: 188: 184: 181: 178: 175: 172: 168: 165: 162: 159: 156: 153: 150: 147: 144: 143: 138: 134: 133:Alliteratives 131: 128: 125: 122: 119: 116: 113: 112: 111: 109: 104: 102: 98: 94: 90: 86: 82: 78: 73: 71: 67: 63: 59: 58:Basic English 55: 47: 45: 43: 38: 36: 32: 19: 1096: 1084: 1062: 1029: 1015: 1001: 982: 971: 963: 953: 949: 937:. Retrieved 932: 922: 914: 902: 887: 837: 814: 806: 798: 786: 780: 769: 767: 756: 752: 713: 694: 690: 686: 684: 681:Charles Lamb 676: 664: 661:Janet Holmes 652: 642: 639:Tom Phillips 633:Examples of 624:Gorm the Old 619: 615: 608: 604: 591: 590:In the book 574: 562: 557:Bennett Cerf 550: 540: 536: 532: 522:Walter Abish 515: 503: 491: 485: 464: 460: 439: 426: 418: 404: 398: 373: 363: 355: 342: 338: 328: 315: 293:microfiction 259: 244: 203: 140: 105: 74: 51: 39: 30: 29: 1078:Cadaeic.net 939:28 February 834:Matt Madden 793:David Lynch 649:Mary Ruefle 601:Leo Maslíah 576:Zero Degree 493:Never Again 392:abecedarian 372:also wrote 347: [ 285:: 100 words 253:group uses 200:Peter Carey 167:Palindromes 161:Abecedarius 108:avant-garde 48:Description 1143:Word games 1132:Categories 929:"L'Oulipo" 880:References 644:A Humument 498:Doug Nufer 486:Not A Wake 478:Mike Keith 446:univocalic 378:using the 327:published 224:homophones 137:tautograms 93:villanelle 54:vocabulary 737:'s song " 718:Holocaust 510:Mark Dunn 267:: 6 words 155:Acrostics 1112:Archived 1055:Archived 990:Archived 847:See also 808:Watchmen 714:Darkling 647:(1970); 637:include 614:A novel 360:Ian Monk 306:Examples 289:Twiction 277:Minisaga 233:Aleatory 202:'s book 193:Anagrams 187:number π 149:Lipogram 97:limerick 1122:Article 821:clipart 677:Of Lamb 635:erasure 628:Anglish 622:) (see 583:author 283:Drabble 251:Outrapo 239:Erasure 177:Anglish 89:sestina 56:, e.g. 1085:Eunoia 973:Snopes 863:Oulipo 830:group. 828:Oubapo 764:Comics 605:Líneas 441:Eunoia 428:Hamlet 388:Psalms 317:Gadsby 247:Oulipo 210:commas 183:Pilish 99:, and 85:sonnet 42:poetry 1095:, in 727:poet 609:Lines 581:Tamil 444:is a 413:verbs 407:) by 370:Perec 351:] 271:Haiku 171:radar 101:haiku 81:meter 77:rhyme 33:is a 941:2013 725:Odia 685:ALL 525:"a". 455:is " 390:are 299:Sijo 245:The 79:and 836:'s 779:'s 753:Ebb 739:Bob 712:'s 695:FUR 693:OF 687:KIN 675:'s 663:'s 651:'s 641:'s 461:shi 438:'s 362:as 314:'s 135:or 1134:: 1061:. 970:, 931:. 772:: 698:, 683:; 671:; 659:; 539:, 535:, 482:pi 349:fr 257:. 145:). 95:, 91:, 87:, 64:, 60:, 1089:. 1037:. 1023:. 1009:. 975:, 943:. 842:. 823:. 757:A 720:. 691:S 689:D 618:( 607:( 559:. 472:" 431:. 415:. 403:( 366:. 212:. 189:. 20:)

Index

Constrained comics
literary technique
poetry
vocabulary
Basic English
copula-free text
defining vocabulary
English as a second language
rhyme
meter
sonnet
sestina
villanelle
limerick
haiku
avant-garde
Reverse-lipograms
Univocalic poetry
Alliteratives
tautograms
Alphabetical Africa
Lipogram
Acrostics
Abecedarius
Palindromes
radar
Anglish
Pilish
number π
Anagrams

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