| Eunoia | |
|---|---|
| Author | Christian Bök |
| Country |  Canada |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Univocalic poetry |
| Publisher | Coach House Books |
| Publication date | 2001 |
| Media type | Hardback |
| Pages | 112 |
| ISBN | 1-55245-092-9 |
Eunoia is the title of a set of univocalics by Canadian poet Christian Bök, which consists of chapters written using words limited to a single vowel. The book was published in 2001 by Coach House Books.
The title eunoia, which literally means beautiful thinking, is a medical term which refers to the state of normal mental health, and is also the shortest word in the English language which contains all five vowels.
In the book's main part, each chapter used just a single vowel, producing sentences such as this: "Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal".[1]
The cover of the book features a chromatic representation of Arthur Rimbaud's sonnet "Voyelles" (Vowels) in which each vowel is assigned a particular colour, and consonants appear grey.
It won the 2002 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize and Canongate Books published a British edition in 2008.[2] The book sold well in the UK making The Times list of the year's top 10 books and becoming the top-selling book of poetry in Britain.[3] The author believes "his book proves that each vowel has its own personality, and demonstrates the flexibility of the English language."[1]
Contents |
Sections
Eunoia
The main section of the book consists of five chapters: "A", "E", "I", "O" and "U". In each of these chapters, the only vowel used is the same one as the title. For example, in Chapter A, the only vowel used is "A". There are other rules given to each of the chapters.
- Each of the chapters must refer to the art of writing.[4]
- Each of the chapters have, "to describe a culinary banquet, a prurient debauch, a pastoral tableau and a nautical voyage."[4]
- All the sentences have to have an, "accent internal rhyme through the use of syntactical parallelism."[5]
- The text has to include as many possible words in it as it can.[5]
- The text must avoid repeating words as much as possible.[5]
- The letter "Y" is to be avoided.[5]
Oiseau
"Oiseau", which means "bird", is the shortest word in the French language to use all five vowels. This section contains the following chapters.
- "And Sometimes": A list of all the words in English which contain no vowels.[5]
- "Vowels": A series of poems in which all the words are anagrams of the words in the first line.[5]
- "Voile": A homophonic version of "Voyelles" by Arthur Rimbaud.[5]
- "W": An elegy to the letter "W", dedicated to Georges Perec.[6]
- "Emended Excess": A second poem which uses all the words containing just the letter "E" that were not used in Chapter E.[7]
References
- Bök, Christian. Eunoia, Coach House Books, 2001, ISBN 1-55245-092-9
Notes
- ^ a b "BBC - Today". news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7697000/7697762.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
- ^ "Literary Life - Telegraph". telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3562649/Literary-Life.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
- ^ "Calgary poet hits U.K. bestseller list". cbc.ca. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/05/eunoia-poet.html. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
- ^ a b Bök, Christian (2001). Eunoia. Coach House Books. pp. 103. ISBN 1-55245-092-9. http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/eunoia/?q=archives/online_books/eunoia/.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bök, page 104
- ^ Bök, pages 104-105
- ^ Bök, page 105
External links
- Eunoia online, the entire book
- Eunoia recordings, read by Steve Venright, at UbuWeb
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