Lipograms

A lipogram is a form of constrained writing in which a text deliberately omits one or more letters. The constraint may target a single letter, commonly the letter e in English, or a broader set of letters, a vowel, or even all but one letter. Lipograms can span an entire work or be limited to shorter passages. The term lipogram derives from Greek lipos and graphein, meaning to write while omitting a character.

The modern lipogram tradition is closely associated with the Oulipo group, founded in 1960 in Paris by Raymond Queneau and François Le Lionnais. Members explored writing under various formal constraints, including lipograms. Notable works include Ernest Vincent Wright's Gadsby (1939), a novel of about 50,000 words produced without the letter e; and Georges Perec's La disparition (1969), a French novel also avoiding the letter e, which was translated into English as A Void (1994) by Gilbert Adair. These works illustrate how constraint can drive literary invention across languages.

Variations and significance: Lipograms appear in many languages and can be used for puzzles, for experimental literature, or as commentary on censorship or memory. They invite readers to notice language patterns and can pose translation challenges, since preserving the constraint often requires substantial adaptation. Although the English tradition most often targets the letter e, other languages have produced lipograms as well, with varying degrees of success.