Read about the mysterious novel written without the letter ‘E’: The Gadsby by Ernest Vincent Wright. Gadsby Speciality, History and Backstory!
If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn’t constantly run across folks today who claim that “a child don’t know anything.” A child’s brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult’s act, and figuring out its purport.
Have you completed the entire paragraph I mentioned above? Well, if yes, congratulations! You’re one of the readers who read a whole fuckin para without letter ‘E’ for the very first time.
What’s your reward? Well, I don’t know!
But one thing I can assure you — you’re lucky to know about this book, because back in the early 2000s, you wouldn’t have had the chance to experience this masterpiece of literature.
Gadsby: The Final Boss of Lipogram Literature
When I was in preschool, my mother taught me about the existence of vowels. Well, if you don’t know what vowels are, then… 🙂 (GET THE F*CK OUTTA HERE!)
Just kidding! Hehe
But seriously—vowels are like the spice in the soup of language. We don’t really notice them… until someone snatches them away. And let’s be honest—there can’t be a word in English without a vowel.
Like, try it. Say a word without A, E, I, O, or U.
…Yeah, that’s right. You’re just choking on consonants now!
Which is why Gadsby is such a jaw-dropping flex. A whole damn novel without the letter E.
Yes. E. The Beyoncé of the alphabet. The most-used diva just… vanished.
And yet, this man wrote a 50,000-word novel without her!!!
Tell me that’s not the literary equivalent of doing a backflip in a straitjacket on a tightrope over lava.
The Author of Gadsby – Ernest Vincent Wright
Well, here’s the thing: we don’t actually know much about him. He was this mysterious dude named… Nest Vincent Wright? Or Ernest Vincent Wright? Even history isn’t totally sure.
There’s barely any record of his past, no confirmed birthdate, birthplace, or even nationality. Some sources say he was American, others whisper he was English. Not even Wikipedia can confidently tell you who he really was.
Type in his name and you’ll probably see a photo pop up. But plot twist: that guy is Jack Benny, a famous American entertainer, not our vowel-dodging legend.
The real Ernest Vincent Wright? Possibly only one grainy photo of him exists… and even that one’s shaky.
What we do know is this: He lived in California, was writing in the early 1900s, and had beef with the letter E, like it owed him money.
Ernest Early Life
Some say he was born in 1872 — but beyond that, Ernest Vincent Wright is basically a ghost. Little is known about his early childhood or family background. Rumour has it, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at some point, yeah, the real deal — but the records? Vague! Some say he studied engineering, which kinda makes sense when you realise the level of mental architecture needed to write a whole book without the most used letter in English.
Before Gadsby, Wright dabbled in poetry and possibly other short literary works. He was clearly someone obsessed with language: the rules, the rhythm, the loopholes. The man didn’t just love words, he wanted to break them, bend them, and rebuild them under his own rules.
What’s so Special About Gadsby?
If you are still confused about what is so special here? Like, why are we hyping this novel up like it’s some kind of literary holy grail?
Well, to get it, we need to talk about the importance of the letter E.
As you’ve probably realised by now, E isn’t just common, it’s the queen bee of the English alphabet. It shows up in about half of the top 500 most-used words in the entire language.
That’s wild!
So when Wright decided to exile E from his novel, he wasn’t just making it hard on himself. He was basically throwing away every crutch a writer leans on.
Let’s break it down:
- Say goodbye to ‘THE’ (yep, the most common word in English)
- No ‘HE’, ‘SHE’, ‘THEY’, ‘THEM’, ‘THEIRS’ — so much for pronouns
- Past tense? Forget it. Words ending in ‘-ed’ are off the table (Like walked, asked and talked)
- Numbers six through thirty? Deleted.
- Even the word ‘chapter‘ is banned. This book literally had to find another way to label chapters.
And just so you know, the letter E makes up roughly 12% of any given English text.
That’s like trying to run a marathon with one leg tied behind your back.
How The Book Was Written – The Backstory of Gadsby
Gadsby, named after its main character, might just be one of the weirdest books you’ll ever read. Not because of the plot, not because of the language, but the sheer absurdity of how and why it was written.
So what made Wright do it? What possessed this man to go toe-to-toe with the alphabet’s MVP? Well, according to Wright himself, he got the idea after stumbling upon a poem written without the letter E. He claimed that reading it made him realise just how overpowered E really was — supposedly, it occurred five times more than any other letter. (That’s not true, but hey, delusion fuels ambition.)
And fueled by this obsession, Wright went full rogue. He spent over five months hammering away at his typewriter, even going as far as tying down the E key so he wouldn’t accidentally commit literary treason.
And get this — this wasn’t even his first beef with E.
Seven years earlier or so, in 1930, Wright actually wrote to a newspaper and challenged them to host a lipogram competition, offering a $250 cash prize to anyone who could outwrite him. (Can you imagine 250$ in the early 1900s? This man was going nuts.)
Spoiler: they politely declined.
Because honestly… who tf wants that smoke?
So, to break free from his self-imposed linguistic handcuffs, Wright had to get wildly creative. Like, Shakespeare-meets-GPT-on-hard-mode creative.
Even right out of the gate, the narrator admits the struggle:
“In my story, that mighty obstruction will constantly stand in my path.”
And oh boy, does it show.
Instead of “faces,” you get physiognomy.
“Eyes”? Nah — those are orbs now. 👁️
Wedding cake? Oh, that’s “an astonishing loaf of culinary art.”
Music? That’s “a charming fairy which knows no human words.”
It’s like he rewrote the English language with a thesaurus. 😭
And here’s the real iconic move:
Wright even apologises for not using the letter E… without using the letter E.
“So I trust that a critical public will hold constantly in mind that I am voluntarily avoiding words containing that symbol, which is by far the most common inclusion in writing.”
Bro turned restraint into art.
What’s Inside the Book – The Plot of Gadsby
Gadsby actually reads surprisingly well, like, way better than you’d expect for a book missing the most-used letter in the English language. Sure, the prose gets a little gloopy at times (because, you know… no “the,” no “he,” no past tense), but overall? Wright pulled off something pretty damn impressive.
Now you’re probably thinking: “Alright, cool trick — but what’s this whole vowel-vanishing epic actually about?”
Aliens?
Secret codes?
A cryptic dystopia where ‘E’ has been banned by law?
Nope.
It’s about urban planning! City layouts, youth councils, and civic engagement. 🤷🏻♀️
Set in the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, the story follows John Gadsby, a man on a mission to bring his hometown back to life. With the help of some spirited young folks — sorry, “youth” (because “teenagers” contains that forbidden letter), Gadsby revitalises the city through community action.
Weirdly enough, despite all Wright’s effort, the original print of Gadsby still contains four accidental E’s:
Three rogue “the”s and one rebellious “officer.”
No one’s quite sure how that happened; maybe the typesetter was trolling.
And here’s the cherry on top:
Ernest Vincent Wright. The man’s name literally has three E’s in it.
Surprisingly, he knew and he owned it. In the book’s prologue, he even hits back at a woman who accused him of faking the whole thing.
Classic Wright. Zero chill.
The History of The Iconic Lipogrammatic Book
Remember I said if you were in the early 2000s, this book would have been hard to get? Here is the story:
How The Book Was Almost Lost Forever
Finding a publisher was damn near impossible. Gadsby ended up being vanity-published sometime between 1937 and 1939 — and even that’s a mystery. No one knows the exact date.
And just to make things even darker, there’s an urban legend that claims Wright died on the same day the book was published.
Oh, and it sold… about 50 copies.
Not helping matters: a warehouse fire in L.A. wiped out almost the entire print run — and, according to reports, took the life of a firefighter who responded to the blaze. Like, can this story get any more cursed?
The Surprising Comeback of Gadsby
Despite the rocky start, Gadsby found a weird kind of fame later on. Over the decades, it gained a cult following, and original copies started selling for $1,000 to $4,000. Talk about a plot twist.
Even cooler? Wright’s mad experiment inspired other lipogrammers, including the legendary French author Georges Perec, who took things even further, writing a full 80,000-word novel in French without using the letter ‘E’. (Which, by the way, might be even harder than in English… but look, I’m not French, so I’m not qualified to judge that battle.).
And the legacy?
Gadsby ended up getting parodied in The Simpsons, inspired a whole subreddit, and became an underground symbol of literary defiance. Suddenly, a book that sold 50 copies, now has become a trend in literature!
Wright had no clue that his oddball project — once ignored, nearly lost forever — would turn into a legendary feat of linguistic nerdery.
My Thoughts on Gadsby
I don’t know if we’ll ever know the reason behind writing a whole-ass novel without the letter E, or if there was no reason at all. But one thing I surely enjoyed about this book is how it actually highlights the lipogram aspect in it. The author’s wittiness didn’t let this quirky point fade, it’s clear this book wasn’t accidentally written without that letter, but done with certainty! Yet, it never makes you feel like something awkward is going on while reading.
I think this book is a goldmine for anybody who loves creative writing, because this shit is actually creative! And you can learn a lot from it. On the flip side, it’s also motivation for every writer who thinks their idea won’t work and hides their talent behind the rock of hate. Guys, this book had no damn purpose to exist and still managed to outshine.
You should definitely read it—you’ll enjoy it, I bet!
