Thursday, November 20, 2008

Gadsby: Champion Of Youth

Gadsby: Champion of Youth is a work of fiction that puts forth an account of goings on in a fictitious city, "Branton Hills." It primarily has to do with a transformation, through youth's vigor, of this moribund and slothful community. John Gadsby, its protagonist—a man of fifty or so—calls upon his town's girls and boys to aid him in his plan to bring activity and vitality back to that vicinity.

Thrust onward by a can-do spirit, this organization campaigns for original civic construction, and Gadsby soon gains a post as mayor.
If youth, throughout all history, had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn't constantly run across folks today who claim that "a child don't know anything." A child's brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult's act, and figuring out its purport.

Gadsby, first paragraph


So what is so important about this?

I know you did not notice that up till now, the letter 'e' did not appear in any of the words or sentences above. That was the primary significance of the story.

Wikipedia says:

'This story of about 50,000 words is most famous as a notably ambitious lipogram, in that it painstakingly omits a most common glyph from all of its paragraphs. Gadsby
is famous for its particular innovation: for all its 50,110 words, it is a long lipogram, a composition avoiding a particular glyph throughout.

A lipogram is a form of artistic constraint that arbitrarily limits an author's vocabulary. Gadsby, skips from "d" to "f" in its vocabulary of around 4,000 valid words... '.

In his introduction to the book, the author, Ernest Vincent Wright writes:

' As the vowel E is used more than five times oftener than any other letter, this story was written, not through any attempt to attain literary merit, but due to a somewhat balky nature, caused by hearing it so constantly claimed that “it can’t be done; for you cannot say anything at all without using E, and make smooth continuity, with perfectly grammatical construction—” so ‘twas said.'

The first chapter of the book and indeed the whole book is here.

See if you can find an 'e' anywhere in there.

13 comments:

webround said...

interesting..
i would never haven noticed the missing "e".

Naapali said...

Some people get time sha!

badderchic said...

lmao at Naapali.

Nims no mind them o! your post dey very enlightenin

Vera Ezimora said...

WOW!!

Amazing!! How about writing a piece that completely ommits vowels, no? LOL. Okay, that might be a little extreme...and IMPOSSIBLE. For this, I can confidently say, it can't be done.

Carlang said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carlang said...

My thoughts exactly Naps.
Some people get time.

When i read the opening paragraph i thought to myself.."Hmm.. This is clumsy writing."

Abeg.. bring back the E Jare!!

lol

Carlang said...

My thoughts exactly Naps.
Some people get time.

When i read the opening paragraph i thought to myself.."Hmm.. This is clumsy writing."

Abeg.. bring back the E Jare!!

lol

N.I.M.M.O said...

@Webround: Wouldn't have noticed it too myself. Even the Wiki entry tried to avoid using the letter 'e' for a long time until its was just impossible for them or they stopped trying. Many thanx for your comments.
@Doc Naaps: Between the guy who wrote the book and those of us reading it; some people get time. At least he gets recognition for it, what do I get? OK. I get your comment, abi? Many thanx.
@Chairlady: As long as you gat my back, nothing do me jare. How you dey?
@Vera: Shhhhh.. stop saying impossible before some crazy dude decides to make it his life mission now. Writing without vowels? Impossicant! LOL. Many thanx for your comment.
@Carl: Is it really that clumsy? Oh well, Carlang would know. Me I just dey read. Many thanx for your comment.

Shubby Doo said...

thanks for the link

lol @ carlang and naapali - i guess it is the idea behind the message that matters here; more than the message itself

N.I.M.M.O said...

@ALL: I had already published this post before i remembered WHY I found it significant in the first place i.e. apart from its e-omitting significance.

Can you find the similarity in the Gadsby story with that of Barack Obama and America's youth?

A demographic that had been largely inconsequential/inconsistent in previous elections became pivotal in this one. In fact, youth was the engine on which the 2008 US presidential elections ran.

The '.. transformation, through youth's vigor, of [a] moribund and slothful community ..' ' to '... bring back activity and vitality back to that vicinity.'

'... Thrust onward by a can-do spirit [YES WE CAN], this organization campaigns for original civic construction, and Gadsby soon gains a post as mayor.'

From the primaries, funds mobilization, campaigns and actual voters mobilization, the youths were the foot-soldiers of Obama's success. Of course, Obama 'gains a post' as President.

The fact that many people even said 'It can't be done ...' made the writer want to do it. Just as it made America do it.

Makes me wonder if Nigerian youths will ever have 'a champion to stand up for them, to show a doubting world that they can make a difference.'

In the last elections, I think Donald Duke offered a glimpse of that but he chickened out when it was most important. I also believe that Dr. Pat Utomi did not do enough.

Did you say Kris Okotie? please don't let me start on that one.

N.I.M.M.O said...

@Flying Snow: I guess we were typing our comments at about the same time. Maybe its because I forgot the message myself. LOL. The message is served just below your comment. Many thanx.

ablackjamesbond said...

Do u know how long it took to write the book?

ellowyay said...

He wrote the book in the last year/2 years of his life

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