Gadsby, the novel without the letter "E"

By Jack Brummet, Literature and Poetry Editor

Have you ever heard about the novel "Gadsby"?  It is a 50,000+ word tale, written by in 1939 by Ernest Vincent Wright.  It reads fairly normally actually, but when you think about it as you read, it really does change the feel of the language.  In the first sentence here, I used an "e" 22 times. I'm not saying go read the book (it's rather dull), but it is online, and you can at least sample it and see what I mean.  


If you like language, it's pretty interesting to read a chunk of this to feel English without the "E"  He uses surprisingly few awkward constructions (you know the -ed verbs had to be really tough work around).  But the lack of "e's" surprisingly changes the sound of the language--both, by the lack of the "e" itself, and by the "A's" and "I's" and "O's" becoming more dominant visually, and in the sound of the language.

Click here to read Gadsby online. 

Youth cannot stay for long in a condition of inactivity; and so, for only about a month did things so stand, until a particularly bright girl in our Organization, thought out a plan for caring for infants of folks who had to go out, to work; and this bright kid soon had a group of girls who would join, during vacation, in voluntarily giving up four days a month to such work. With about fifty girls collaborating, all districts had this most gracious aid; and a girl would not only watch and guard, but would also instruct, as far as practical, any such tot as had not had its first schooling. Such work by young girls still in school was a grand thing; and Gadsby not only stood up for such loyalty, but got at his boys to find a similar plan; and soon had a full troop of Boy Scouts; uniforms and all.

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