With summer just around the corner it is time to think about stocking up on some good books for summer reading. If you are a word and language lover looking for a linguistically-entertaining, quick and fun read, I highly recommend "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn. The full title of the original hardcover version is “Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable.” It wasn't until the paperback paperback version came out that the title was shortened to “Ella Minnow Pea : A Novel in Letters.” At any rate, the original title gives readers a better idea of the fun way in which the novel was written.
For those unfamiliar with the terms, lipogrammatic is defined as a style of writing that is composed of words with a certain letter or letters omitted, and epistolary is defined as writings in the form of written correspondence or a letter.
The story takes place on a fictional island where the individual who coined the phrase, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” (which contains every letter of the alphabet) was born. There is a statue on the island with this inscription that is a tribute to the creator. Interestingly, this island is rather old-fashioned and letter writing is the inhabitants' main method of communication. When letters start falling off of the statue the government on the island declares that those letters must be removed from all future written and verbal communication.
This is where the fun begins and why the novel's original name is “Ella Minnow Pea: a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable.” The novel is written as a series of letters between inhabitants of the island, thus it is an epistolary fable. Additionally, as the letters fall off of the statue, the inhabitants must find ways to communicate with each other without the use of certain letters, thus it is lipogrammatic. The more letters that fall off of the statue, the more the lipogrammaticy progresses. As an example, the main character's name is Ella Minnow Pea in the beginning and becomes LMNOP over time.
In sum, this is a perfect book for people who love words and wordplay. Also, the fact that it is written in the form of letters, and the paperback edition is a mere 208 pages, makes it a truly quick and fun read. In fact, I read the book in just a couple of hours on a rainy summer day. It was great entertainment. If you are interested in learning more about more linguistic terminology here is a great website to pick up some everyday linguistic information and to have fun with words.
