Eunoia

February 2013

‘Eunoia’ is the shortest word in English to contain all five vowels, and the word quite literally means ‘beautiful thinking’. The perfect title for a poetical book that is directly inspired by the exploits of Oulipo (l’Ouvier de Littérature Potentielle) –the avant‐garde coterie renowned for its literary experimentation with extreme formalistic constraints. This works shows that even under extreme improbable conditions of duress, every chapter contains only one vowel, language can still express an uncanny, if not sublime, thought.

Christian Bök, Eunoia, Canongate Books ltd, Edinbrough, 2001

a full digital version can be found here

 

 

Mark Proosten