E – eeeeeeeek!

 

            You have heard of pangrams – English sentences that use every letter of the alphabet – but have you heard of lipograms?? Lipograms are sentences or paragraphs that omit one letter of the alphabet entirely.Normally the letter left out is a vowel or a commonly  - used consonant. The result is writing which seems stilted and odd.

       

        An American author called Ernest Vincent Wright actually wrote an entire book without the letter  “e” ! Gadsby took Wright only 165 days to write.He tapeed down the letter “e” on his typewriter so that he would not use it by accident. Surprisingly, his writing was readable. Others had written such books before, but Wright’s achievement was unique.”E” is the most used letter in the English language and Wright’s book was nearly 300 pages long!

       

        The strain of writing Gadsby told told on him and he died on the very day it was published in 1939. After his death , copies of Gadsby became priceless collector’s items. A copy can fetch more than $1000 today.