Eunoia - Christian Bök

. .

Résumé :
Poetry. Second Edition. The word eunoia, which literally means beautiful thinking, is the shortest word in English that contains all five vowels. Directly inspired by the Oulipo (l'Ouvroir de LittA[a?Arature Potentielle), a French writers' group interested in experimenting with different forms of literary constraint, Eunoia is a five-chapter book in which each chapter is a univocal lipogram--the first chapter has A as its only vowel, the second chapter E, etc. Each vowel takes on a distinct personality: the I is egotistical and romantic, the O jocular and obscene, the E elegiac and epic (including a retelling of the Iliad!). Stunning in its implications and masterful in its execution, Eunoia has developed a cult following, garnering extensive praise and winning the Griffin Poetry Prize. This edition features several new but related poems by Christian Bok and an expanded afterword.