"Gadsby" by Ernest Vincent Wright

Some might call "Gadsby" a "love" story. But Ernest Vincent Wright wouldn't have used that word. Instead, he described his novel as a story of "strong liking" and "throbbing palpitation." That's because in 1939, Wright gave himself one restriction: He promised to write "Gadsby" without using the letter E.

Wright wanted to prove that a great author could work around such a restriction and still tell a gripping story. To prevent any stray Es from entering the text, he tied down his typewriter's E key, and then put his expansive vocabulary to the test. The result is an astounding feat of verbal gymnastics. While vividly describing a wedding scene, Wright manages to avoid the words "bride," "ceremony," and even "wedding" (he calls it "a grand church ritual" ).

To explain away the verbosity of the language, he uses a narrator whose poor command of English and circumlocution even irritates the story's other characters.

When the book was announced, one skeptic attacked Wright in a letter, claiming that the feat was impossible. "All right," replied Wright in the book's intro, "the impossible has been accomplished." Sadly, Wright didn't live long enough to revel in "Gadsby's" critical acclaim. He died the year the book was published.