Although I’ve mentioned it before, an interesting exchange with Hilker about a quote and comments from Dave Reed brought back to mind the phenomenal Eunoia, by Christian Bök. Eunoia is the shortest word in English with all main vowels, and roughly translates from Greek as “mental health.”
The book is a rigidly formalist composition in which Bök writes each chapter using only one vowel; there are other requirements, too: each chapter must describe a meal, a sea-going excursion, something erotic, and the process of writing.
It’s totally amazing, and really must be read to be believed; the above sample doesn’t do it justice. It’s all online here.
Eunoia exemplifies the relationship in art between constraint and creativity, the “enabling limits” Hilker’s post brought to mind. This relationship has analogues in other areas of human experience, I believe.
