Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize (2002)
Stunning and masterful in its execution, Eunoia is a five-chapter
book in which each chapter is a univocal lipogram.
The word 'eunoia, ' which literally means 'beautiful thinking, ' is the
shortest word in English that contains all five vowels. Directly
inspired by the Oulipo (l'Ouvroir de LittÃ(c)rature Potentielle), a
French writers' group interested in experimenting with different forms
of literary constraint, Eunoia is a five-chapter book in which each
chapteris a univocal lipogram - the first chapter has A as its only
vowel, the second chapter E, etc. Each vowel takes on a distinct
personality: the I is egotistical and romantic, the O jocular and
obscene, the E elegiac and epic (including a retelling of the Iliad!).
Stunning in its implications and masterful in its execution, Eunoia
has developed a cult following, garnering extensive praise and winning
the Griffin Poetry Prize. The original edition was never released in the
U.S., but it has already been a bestseller in Canada and the U.K.
(published by Canongate Books), where it was listed as one of the
Times' top ten books of 2008.
This new edition features several new but related poems by Christian Bok
and an expanded afterword.
'Eunoia is a novel that will drive everybody sane.' --Samuel Delany
'Eunoia takes the lipogram and rendersit obsolete.' --Kenneth
Goldsmith
'A marvellous, musical texture of rhymes and echoes.' --Harry Mathews
'An exemplary monument for 21st century poetry.' --Charles Bernstein
'Bök's dazzling word games are the literary sensation of the year.'
--The Times
'A resounding success ... brilliant.' --The Guardian
'Brilliant ... beautiful and strange.' --Today Programme, BBC Radio 4
'Impressive.' --Sunday Telegraph
'No mere Christmas stocking filler for Countdown fans. Rather, it's an
ingenious little novel ... playful and irreverent ... charming.'
--Metro
