Books written using strange rules

[Trevoke]

I have two examples for such, and another thread gave me the idea, speaking of a book written without punctuation.

1) Dante's Inferno. 3x33 chants + Epilogue, about 150 lines each, so 15,000 lines, all written using 11 syllables, which is, I've been told, the hardest one to use.

2) "La Disparition" by George Perec. Except for the author's name, this book was written *entirely* without using the letter 'e'. It is in French, sadly enough, and most likely rather hard to translate, but it's worthy of being mentioned.

Which other books do you know, which are worth reading if only because of these types of rules?

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[karluk]

2) "La Disparition" by George Perec. Except for the author's name, this book was written *entirely* without using the letter 'e'. It is in French, sadly enough, and most likely rather hard to translate, but it's worthy of being mentioned.

Difficult maybe, impossible no. Perec's novel has already been translated into English, the translation also avoiding the letter "e". Check out this link, which says that this type of intentional omission is called a "lipogram"

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/table/forms/lipogram.html

In 1969, Perec completed Las Disparitions, a novel without the letter E. In 1994, Gilbert Adair translated this novel into English as A Void. The translation also does not contain the letter E.

 

[jebenson]

My personal favorite bokk of this type is the Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini. the book is seems to be an encyclopedia made by an alien about another world. I say "seems to be" because the author created and entire language - alphabet, syntax, grammar, numbering system, etc. - that so far nobody has been able to "crack" (except for the page numbering system).

Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Seraphinianus

and some other links:

http://www.almaleh.com/codex-e.htm#

http://www.io.com/~iareth/codindx.html

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

Arrrr, mateys! Ye needs ta be preparin' yerselves fer Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ye has a choice: talk like a pira

 

[Trevoke]

Wow. I have to get my hands on that.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[vbSun]

For about a 1000$ (Amazon.com)! One of those moments where i cant take a decision which way to go!

------------------------------------------
The faulty interface lies between the chair and the keyboard.

 

[Grenage]

I was under the impression that Codex Seraphinianus was not so much a code that nobody has been able to crack, but just 'jibberish'?


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[SilentAiche]

I rather agree with Grenage's line of thought.

How much effort has been given to cracking this "code"? Is there any progress at all? Such as, "We think we know three of eight vowels..."

Just curious.

Tim

[purple]__________________________________
[small] "Attention to health is life's greatest hindrance." - Plato

"Plato was a bore." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal." -Leo Tolstoy [/small][/Purple]

 

[karluk]

If you follow the links cited by jebenson, the most informative in providing an interpretation of the Codex is

http://www.math.bas.bg/~iad/serafin.html

which contains a fairly complete description of the numbering system (it's base 21, interestingly enough) and enough of a general description of the writing system to make it seem highly unlikely that there is any easy way to decipher it.

My first reaction when looking at these references was an urge to try my hand at breaking the code. That was quickly tempered by the realization that there may not be any code to break and, even if there is, that it may not be possible to make progress without the equivalent of a Rosetta Stone.

My personal opinion on the numbering system is that there is a lot of evidence that Serafini intended it to reflect something developed by a race of three-handed aliens with seven fingers on each hand.