About this title: In Perec's extraordinary tour de force--written entirely without the use of the letter "e"--a group of people die or are otherwise eliminated as a result of their inability to "name the unnameable," i.e. to use the letter "e." This novel is a classic text of the Oulipo, the French literary movement that produces works of art using formal ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harpercollins
Date Published: 1995-01
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Good. Good+. Pages and jacket bright and clean; very good hardcover binding. Glossy jacket; jacket price intact. Small pink star stamped on closed page edges--bottom edge. Otherwise, very good condition. Harvill, 1994. read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins, New York
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. Octavo 6" x 9" [CC]. Translated from the French by Gilbert Adair. 284 pp. Hardcover, bound in green boards with dustwrapper. Light shelf-wear. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harvill
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9781860460982ISBN:1860460984
Description: Collectible; Very Good. VG 1ST IMPRESSION 1995 HARVILL PAPERBACK WITH LOVELY COVER ARTWORK BY STEPHEN RAW. E-VISCERATING NOVEL BY PEREC, RENDERED WITH SKILL BY PEREC IN E-LIMINATING THE LETTER 'E'. INNERS UNMARKED, TIGHT BINDING IMMEDIATE 1ST CLASS/AIRMAIL DISPATCH WORLDWIDE. read more
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. First English Language Edition. NF/NF. Hardcover, green boards with gilt titles, DJ, 284 pp, very light edgewear, else a clean and crisp copy. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Hard Cover--FINE/FINE--Book and dust jacket are clean and bright with only slightest of shelf wear. First Edition w/full # string and original price present. 284 pages. read more
Edition: First English Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill, London
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: As New in Near Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. First printing. Translated from the French by Gilbert Adair. An apparently unread copy. The DJ has a crease on the front flap and very minor wear at the spine ends and the corners. The flap price is intact. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill
Date Published: 1995-01
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: New. Brand New. Gift Condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harvill P
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780002711180ISBN:0002711184
Description: Fine. FINE 1994 1ST IMPRESSION LARGER FORMAT HARVILL TRADE PAPERBACK. STRIKING ORIGINAL COVER ARTWORK. SKILFUL AND RESOURCEFUL GILBERT ADAIR TRANSLATION, WITHOUT USING THE LETTER 'E'. LOVELY 1ST EDITION PAPERBACK COPY, SLIGHT RUBBING TO COVER EDGES ONLY. NR FINE UNREAD COPY. IMMEDIATE 1st Class/Airmail dispatch fromUK EUROPEAN LIT COLLECTION ~~Please browse our Alibris storefront for more related items, combined postage available. Alibris UK Featured Seller 2009~~ read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harvill
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780002711180ISBN:0002711184
Description: Fine. FINE 1994 1ST IMPRESSION LARGER FORMAT HARVILL TRADE PAPERBACK. STRIKING ORIGINAL COVER ARTWORK. SKILFUL AND RESOURCEFUL GILBERT ADAIR TRANSLATION, WITHOUT USING THE LETTER 'E'. LOVELY 1ST EDITION PAPERBACK COPY, SLIGHT RUBBING TO COVER EDGES ONLY. NR FINE UNREAD COPY. IMMEDIATE 1st Class/Airmail dispatch fromUK EUROPEAN LIT COLLECTION. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Very Good. DJ. 0002711192 First Edition, First Printing. NEAR FINE+ hardcover book in NEAR FINE+ dust-jacket. NOT marked. NOT price-clipped. NOT remaindered. NOT faded. NOT book club edition. NOT ex-library. All of our dust-jackets are shipped in fresh, archival-safe mylar protective book jacket covers. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Fine. DJ. 0002711192 First Edition, First Printing. FINE hardcover book in FINE dust-jacket. NOT marked. NOT price-clipped. NOT remaindered. NOT faded. NOT book club edition. NOT ex-library. As if writing a book isn't difficult enough, the author also completely avoided the use of the letter 'e' in both the original French and this English translation. All of our dust-jackets are shipped in fresh, archival-safe mylar protective book jacket covers. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill Press
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: New in new dust jacket. Text in English, French. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. Audience: General/trade; General/trade. first us edition read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill
Date Published: 1995-01
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: New. ~~BRAND NEW~FIRST EDITION~HARVILL/HARPER COLLINS PUBL~1994~ PUBL~HARDCOVER WITH DUST JACKET/PROTECTED IN MYLAR~**Check out my other listings: BOOKS, CDS, DVDS, VIDEOS, GAMES**PR-KL-2**Check out my other listings: BOOKS, CDS, DVDS, VIDEOS, GAMES*** read more
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. Paperback. New Ed Ed. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harvill
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780002711197ISBN:0002711192
Description: Good. Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels. About Austin eBooks Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment ... read more
"I worship at this translator's altar for being able to render the entire novel without the letter "e". Good job, Gilbert Adair! The story was pretty interesting too, although I have to admit I kept scanning to see if I could find a wayward "e". Nope, it's a success."
"It's not only a brilliant tour de force, but Georges Perec's A Void (La Disparition) is at the same time absorbing and frenzied. Oh, and did I forget to tell you that, nowhere in its 284 pages except for the "Metagraphs" at the end does the letter e appear? I had already read Life: A User's Manual, which is equally great, and expected no less from A Void. The book not only delivered, with its strange Oedipal revenge tale of primogeniture, serial murder, and wild exoticism, but it made me to resolve to read it again.
Gilbert Adair's translation is no less a work of art. Just to give you a taste, here is Perec (and Adair) doing a famous "Shakspar" soliloquy:
Living, or not living: that is what I ask: If 'tis a stamp of honour to submit To slings and arrows waft'd us by ill winds, Or brandish arms against a flood of afflictions, Which by our opposition is subdu'd? Dying, drowsing; Waking not? And by drowsing thus to thwart An aching soul and all th' natural shocks Humanity sustains."
"Turning las paginas in this book was a singular opportunity. (But alas I cry "fin!" to this d....
****
Fascinating read not only because the book was written with it's void, but also because it was translated into a language that relies on the missing vowel, so much. (Almost like his friends relied on the missing Vowl.)
In the course of the story, the author shows his talent for writing e-less copy of all types. A story starts to settle out of this, but that isn't really the point of this singular effort.
Here's a few things I noted as methods for dropping the letter: -using numerals instead of letters (10 instead of ten) -ellipsis cutting off dialogue before an "e" would appear -foreign words with the same meaning, but no "e" -vernacular dialogue (hullo) -contraction -abbrieviation -word selection verging on malapropism (yo ho ho and a flask of rum) -dropping e's (Shakspar) -changing names (Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven becomes Arthur Gordon Pym's Black Bird)
This is a playful book that builds tremendous rhythm at points, but also includes some sections that do drag quite a bit. I enjoyed the meta moments where the characters comment on the novel they are in (pg. 198)."
"Anton Vowl is missing, and that is not all that is missing in this book. How many words in the English language contain the letter "e"? They are missing to. This work was written in French without using any words that contains the vowel "e" then transalated to English without using any word that contains the letter "e". Both the writing in that fashion, and the translating thereof were monumental tasks. Therein lies the reason for the four star rating. The book is one large word game; the reader is constantly looking for what the author and tranlator will do to "a void" using the letter "e". (How do you present Poe's "The Raven" without the letter "e"... interesting... read the book to find out.) The book is written in six parts, with the second part missing. It has twenty-six chapters, but the fifth is missing. There is constant toying with the reader about those numbers. The plot actually becomes secondary. The down side of the book is that the plot does retreat into the as the reader falls int the trap of the author and translator's word play. A second negative aspect of the work is that in "a voiding" using the letter "e" the flow of the language gets rough. I love words, and when either written or spoken, I love to here or read them flow. The languge in this book is rough. Sometimes it seemed as if you were riding a bicycle over a cobble stone street. In the end this is a book that you would read for for the word game. If your into word games this book is for you."
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