It took Christian Bok 7 years to write Eunoia - the word is the shortest word in the English language containing all five vowels.
Eunoia means "beautiful thinking" and it's a very fitting title to Christian's book, in which each chapter uses only one vowel!
From CHAPTER A - FOR HANS ARP:
Hassan Abd al-Hassad, an Agha Khan, basks at an ashram - a Taj Mahal that has grand parks and grass lawns, all as vast as parklands at Alhambra and Valhalla. Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack. Hassan claps, and (tah-dah) an Arab lass at a swank spa can draw a man's bath and wash a man's back, as Arab lads fawn and hang, athwart an altar, amaranth garlands as fragrant as attar - a balm that calms all angst. A dwarf can flap a palm branch that fans a fat maharajah. A naphtha lamp can cast a calm warmth.
Link - Thanks Ali S.!
Better as souvenir maybe.
The tone has to be forced to perform a feat like that, like when people with no vocabulary try to write rhyming poetry, except this author must have read the thesaurus.
He is fantastic at bringing the music of the language to life-- rather than a focus on the meaning, the noise of the words is the focus.
And yes, I'm a language geek.
Me, my tender belfry stresses, tested when he expresses per these steps!
I don't know, I found the prose excerpt charming in a gimmicky way. But it is a pure stunt, and reading a whole book of it would probably be like watching somebody juggle chainsaws for hour after hour. (I just tried, and I can't even do one sentence of it.)
constraints can release creativity just as much as they can inhibit it -- rhyming poetry is a perfect example. granted, these particular constraints are rather extreme, but the general point stands.
also, of course you wouldn't derive the same kind of pleasure from reading this book as from reading a normal novel. but so what? if you can't see the beauty in this, turn in your geek badge at the door.