Le Train de Nulle Part

Le Train de Nulle Part (The Train from Nowhere) is a 233-page French novel, written in 2004 by a French doctor, under the pen name Michel Thaler . The novel is notable as an example of constrained writing; the entire novel is written without a single verb.

In the preface of the novel, Thaler called the verb an "invader, dictator, usurper of our literature". Considering the novel an act towards literature comparable with the artistic impact of Dadaism and surrealism, Thaler surmised, "The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish. Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself." Thaler went so far as to organize a well-attended, tongue-in-cheek funeral for the verb, at Sorbonne in Paris.

See also

• Constrained writing

External links

• Nothing doing: no verbs
• A New Novel, No Verbs, in France, No Less
• Publishing Trends, June 2004; mentions Thaler and the novel