Eunoia - Softcover

Eunoia, which literally means "beautiful thinking," is the shortest word in English that contains all five vowels. This book also contains them all except that each one appears by itself in its own chapter. Directly inspired by the Oulipo, a French writers group that experiments with different forms of literary constraint, Eunoia is a five-chapter book in which each chapter contains only one vowel. Each vowel takes on a distinct personality the i is egotistical and romantic, the o jocular and obscene, the e elegiac and epic (stunningly, Bök retells the entire Iliad in Chapter E). Seven years in the making, this extraordinary work met with widespread critical acclaim upon its publication in Canada. Ambitious, audacious, and masterful in its execution, Eunoia is both a literary triumph and a delight to read.