Classic oddities
The literary world seems to be a deep chasm of every kind of genre known to mankind, touching upon different factors and themes that one probably never even gave enough credit to be deemed important. However, as profound pieces exist, so do weird ones, the ones that make us stop in our interpreting tracks and question what we had just read. Join Jasmine Kaur Kohli, AIS Saket, Alumna as she walks us past some of these said bizarre bibliographies.
Book: Gadsby
Author: Ernest Vincent Wright
Published in: 1939
Abstract: The novel tells the tale of a dying fictional town of Branton Hills, which is revitalised through the efforts of John Gadsby, the protagonist, and a youth group he organises.
The peculiar point: The book stands to be a lipogram omitting the letter ‘e’, meaning that in this 50,000-words-worth of a novel, there are only four words that contain the alphabet E, which is the most commonly used letter in the English language.
Book: Finnegans Wake
Author: James Joyce
Published in: 1939
Abstract: The novel explores the lives of Earwicker family – the father HCE, the mother ALP, and their three children Shem the Penman, Shaun the Postman, and Issy. Following an unspecified rumour about HCE, ALP attempts to exonerate him as his son aims to replace him.
The peculiar point: Written in an experimental style, the book is one of the most difficult works of fiction. Written over a period of 17 years, it is Joyce’s final work in an idiosyncratic language with portmanteau words, Irish mannerisms as well as puns in various languages. The narration of the story is non-linear, resembling a dream that is hard to make sense of.
Book: Codex Seraphinianus
Author: Luigi Serafini
Published in: 1981
The abstract: Divided into 11 chapters of two sections, this non-fictional book talks about a variety of topics like flora, fauna, a kingdom of odd bipedal creatures, physics, chemistry, bizarre machines, biology, history, Codex’s writing system, food, games, and architecture.
The peculiar point: Looking like an illustrated encyclopaedia of an imaginary world, the novel is around 360 pages long and written in an imaginary language. The manuscript is filled with copious hand-drawn, coloured-pencil illustrations of bizarre and fantastical anatomies, fashions, and food, which are surreal parodies of things in the real world.
Book: Alphabetical Africa
Author: Walter Abish
Published in: 1974
Abstract: The novel showcases the African landscape as it forms and crumbles, all whilst being attacked by an army of driver ants, being invaded by Zanzibar, painted orange by the transvestite Queen Quat of Tanzania, and becoming a hunting ground for a pair of murderous jewel thieves that are tracking down a nymphomaniac moll.
The peculiar point: Written under the restricted rule of a pseudo-alliterative, the first chapter of the book only uses words starting with the letter ‘a’, the second chapter uses words starting with ‘a’ and ‘b’, and so on until the writer reaches ‘z’, only for him to reverse and start removing letters in the reverse order one by one in the subsequent chapters. Set in an imaginary dark continent that expands and contracts with ineluctable precision, the novel, first one by the author, is a linguistic and comedy rollercoaster, demonstrating the author’s stylistic prowess.
Book: Dancing Lessons For The Advanced In Age
Author: Bohumil Hrabal
Published in: 1964
Abstract: The novel aims to tells the story of a lovesick man who is recounting the various events from his past, especially the ones concerning his love life.
The peculiar point: The contents of the book doesn’t seem too strange, unless you notice how the entire book is just one really long sentence without any paragraph breaks or full stops. Regarded as a “humorous and breathless affair” by critics, the novel juxtaposes the public life of Czech Republic with the private life of the narrator.