Anton Voyls Fortgang

Born in 1969 as the result of a bet, Perec's possibly most extraordinary work "La Disparition" features the letter E not a single time. The novel demonstrates what is possible with language when it is not the author telling the story, but rather - constrained by the corset of a strict rule - the language itself. Starting from the available vocabulary, the story, characters, and plot develop. Between a revolutionary comedy, puzzles that follow puzzles, and a turbulent crime parody, excesses of violence and naked terror emerge. However, the terror that reigns here is methodical, specifically a linguistic method, arising from manipulation of language. Thus, the gradual, almost entirely gray disappearance of an entire clan manifests in the missing letter. "Anton Voyls Fortgang," the German translation by Eugen Helmlé, is one.