{"id":57,"date":"2003-08-11T20:15:14","date_gmt":"2003-08-12T00:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoreti.ca\/?p=57"},"modified":"2003-08-11T20:15:14","modified_gmt":"2003-08-12T00:15:14","slug":"eunoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Eunoia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christian B\u02c6k<\/b> Eunoia Toronto: Coach House Books, http:\/\/www.chbooks.com\/online\/eunoia\/index.html<\/a>, 2001 is a book with Oulipian experiments. Eunoia is written with a chapter for each vowel. Each chapter works within constraints, one of which is to use all words that only use that vowel. The chapters also begin with something about writing. There is a Flash version of the Chapter on E online along with the full text of the other chapters.
\n
\nHere is some quotes from the text on writing. In Chapter A:<\/p>\n

“Awkward grammar appals a craftsman. A Dada bard
\nas daft as Tzara damns stagnant art and scrawls an
\nalpha (a slapdash arc and a backward zag) that mars
\nall stanzas and jams all ballads (what a scandal). A
\nmadcap vandal crafts a small black ankh ? a hand-
\nstamp that can stamp a wax pad and at last plant a
\nmark that sparks an ars magna (an abstract art that
\ncharts a phrasal anagram). A pagan skald chants a dark
\nsaga (a Mahabharata), as a papal cabal blackballs all
\nannals and tracts, all dramas and psalms: Kant and
\nKafka, Marx and Marat. A law as harsh as a fatwa bans
\nall paragraphs that lack an A as a standard hallmark.”<\/p>\n

Here is the Chapter E:
\n“Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech. The
\ntext deletes selected letters. We see the revered exegete
\nreject metred verse: the sestet, the tercet ? even les
\nsc\u00cbnes \u00c8lev\u00c8es en grec. He rebels. He sets new precedents.
\nHe lets cleverness exceed decent levels. He eschews the
\nesteemed genres, the expected themes ? even les belles
\nlettres en vers. He prefers the perverse French esthetes:
\nVerne, P\u00c8ret, Genet, Perec ? hence, he pens fervent
\nscreeds, then enters the street, where he sells these let-
\nterpress newsletters, three cents per sheet. He engen-
\nders perfect newness wherever we need fresh terms.”<\/p>\n

Chapter I:
\n“Writing is inhibiting. Sighing, I sit, scribbling in ink
\nthis pidgin script. I sing with nihilistic witticism,
\ndisciplining signs with trifling gimmicks ? impish
\nhijinks which highlight stick sigils. Isn?t it glib?
\nIsn?t it chic? I fit childish insights within rigid limits,
\nwriting shtick which might instill priggish misgiv-
\nings in critics blind with hindsight. I dismiss nit-
\npicking criticism which flirts with philistinism. I
\nbitch; I kibitz ? griping whilst criticizing dimwits,
\nsniping whilst indicting nitwits, dismissing simplis-
\ntic thinking, in which philippic wit is still illicit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christian B\u02c6k Eunoia Toronto: Coach House Books, http:\/\/www.chbooks.com\/online\/eunoia\/index.html, 2001 is a book with Oulipian experiments. Eunoia is written with a chapter for each vowel. Each chapter works within constraints, one of which is to use all words that only use that vowel. The chapters also begin with something about writing. There is a Flash version … Continue reading Eunoia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-playful-or-cool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theoreti.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}