Georges Perec

Perec’s dedication to such an idea as creating a lipogram is admirable to say the least, while others describe it on the opposite end of the spectrum, rather to be foolish or worthless. The amount of work dedicated to not only creating a novel, but omitting a certain letter throughout the entire work would be quite the feat to boast of, but also can serve as a point of ridicule amongst certain individuals. In Perec’s “The History of the Lipogram” I was astonished to find how much ciphers of that type had been applied in the past and on what subjects they were used. Taking the time to go through such a work and remove letters from certain excerpts and then reprint it would be quite the task, not to mention it leaves many without a proper reasoning behind such actions.