Le Train de Nulle Part
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Le Train de Nulle Part (The Train from Nowhere) is a 233-page French novel, written in 2004 by a French doctor of letters, Michel Dansel, under the pen name Michel Thaler. The novel is notable as an example of constrained writing; the entire novel is written without a single verb.
In the preface of the novel, Thaler called the verb an "invader, dictator, usurper of our literature". Considering the novel an act towards literature comparable with the artistic impact of Dadaism and surrealism, Thaler surmised, "The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish. Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself." Thaler went so far as to organize a well-attended, tongue-in-cheek funeral for the verb, at Sorbonne in Paris.
Sample
Quelle aubaine ! Une place de libre, ou presque, dans ce compartiment. Une escale provisoire, pourquoi pas ! Donc, ma nouvelle adresse dans ce train de nulle part : voiture 12, 3ème compartiment dans le sens de la marche. Encore une fois, pourquoi pas ?- Fool's luck! A vacant seat, almost, in that train. A provisional stop, why not ? So, my new address in this nowhere train : car 12, 3rd compartment, forward. Once again, why not ?
External links
- [Nothing doing: no verbs]
- [A New Novel, No Verbs, in France, No Less]
- [Publishing Trends, June 2004; mentions Thaler and the novel]
- [lessons in self-restraint]
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