not_e Quintessensual No, this is not on note and not (necessarily) naughty but rather on not e - a note on perhaps the greatest lipogram in e by Georges Perec. In 1969, Perec wrote the "La Disparition." The obvious translation for that title would be "The Disappearance," were it nor for the small detail that the novel is a lipogram in e. That is, the letter e does not appear in the novel! The US translation, by Gilbert Adair, was titled "A Void." It is the story of the disappearance of a man; and in the world from where that man disappeared, the letter "e" disappeared as well, but nobody (except for the reader) notices the Kabbalah of substitutions, similes, distortions, variants and the endless tricks that such a Universe builds to fill that void. In that world where "Anton Voyl" in French, "Anton Vowl" in English, is searched in vain by his friends, the well-known soliloquy penned by one William Shakspar runs: Living, or not living: that is what I ask: If 'tis a stamp of honour to submit To slings and arrows waft'd us by ill winds, Or brandish arms against a flood of afflictions, Which by our opposition is subdu'd? Dying, drowsing; Waking not? (...) For more, go to 991115 what's it to you? who go blather from