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An Entire Novel With No Verbs!!  

While doing some research today, I fell upon some astounding article which I thought would be best if I shared it with my esteemed readers.

Believe it or not, French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel 'Le Train de Nulle Part' ('The Nowhere Train') which has no verbs.

According to Language Log, Thaler describes verbs as "invaders, dictators, and usurpers of our literature", adding "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." He has banned infinitives as well as tensed verbs entirely from his writing, but he does exempt past participles from his linguistic Nuremberg Laws.

Sample extracts of the book from Wikipedia:

Quelle aubaine ! Une place de libre, ou presque, dans ce compartiment. Une escale provisoire, pourquoi pas ! Donc, ma nouvelle adresse dans ce train de nulle part : voiture 12, 3ème compartiment dans le sens de la marche. Encore une fois, pourquoi pas ?

Which means - "Fool's luck! A vacant seat, almost, in that train. A provisional stop, why not? So, my new address in this nowhere train: car 12, 3rd compartment, forward. Once again, why not?"

Something fascinating for sure ! One can in no way imagine life without verbs and an entire verbless novel is certainly astounding!

What do you think?




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31 comments

  1. gypsy  

    Blog looks yummm...

    :) u have been tagged...:)

  2. Anonymous  

    I like it. Both in French and English. You really don't need verbs to write a story, but it's so much easier with them. :D

    No verbs is very useful if you want to speed things up, but I do think that a whole novel without verbs is a teeny bit too much.

  3. Meghna  

    Hi d sinner,
    Thank you for dropping by!

  4. Meghna  

    Hi Manic,
    Yes, I agree with you completely. An entire book without any verb!! I was really surprised to see that. I can't think of writing more than one paragraph without verbs. Aren't they the life of the sentences?

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
    Glad to know that you liked my new venture.

  5. --xh--  

    seems intresteing. leme try to get an english copy of it :)

  6. Meghna  

    Hi Anoop,
    I agree, Do tell me if you can get it!

  7. morinn  

    i like it both in French and English as well like manico said! :P It makes sense and that's really amazing. I never knew sentences could make sense without verbs! :p

  8. Meghna  

    Hi morrin,
    I suppose you must have already read the novel then! I am glad you lied it and I too am amazed...Never imagined one could write a sentence like that and now a whole novel...whew!

  9. Peter Pie  

    That looks like a wonderful novel. An entire book without any verb. I can't even think of that. I agree with you and think it's very difficult to write a paragraph.

  10. Peter Pie  

    Hi again,
    If I write my earlier comment without using any verb, it will be something like:

    "A wonderful novel. An entire book without any verb. Unbelievable. Right with you. Even a single paragraph. No..no!"

    Lost the meaning too :)

    Thanks for sharing.

  11. Meghna  

    Hi peter,
    I thought this would amaze you too and I am glad I had dreamt correctly! It certainly is difficult even to write a paragraph!

  12. Meghna  

    Hi once again peter,
    Nice try :P
    I'm glad you tried your hands at it....i tried too but could not do as well as you!

  13. Leena Helttula  

    I have not visited for a while, sorry for that...
    In the meantime you have developed with very big steps even though I thought it could not be possible!
    When are you going to publish your first book?

  14. Anonymous  

    Wow, that is something Meghna and would certainly be challenging. Thanks for sharing.

  15. Anonymous  

    Hi Meghna,
    Oh, that is really informative and am hearing about such a book for the first time. Keep posting.

  16. Meghna  

    Hi Leena,
    Thanks for the visit! I am glad you are impressed!

  17. Meghna  

    Hi Sandra,
    I too thought so! Thanks :D

  18. Meghna  

    Hi Catherine,
    Glad you liked it! :D

  19. Anonymous  

    The word "is" is actually a verb. The "be" verb is obviously one of the most widely used, but also cannot be avoided.

  20. Meghna  

    Hi Anonymous,
    Very rightly said, but I am not sure that these important words too are used in the novel because in the sample provided, these words have not been used!
    By the way, I would be glad if you could publish your comment with your name :D

  21. Anonymous  

    Hey, wat's up Meghna it's me Nelson remember?... I just read your post about the novel with no verbs and I will comment you on youthtwitter and I won't use any verbs:)

  22. Meghna  

    Hi Nelson,
    Glad to see you here at my blog. I'm waiting for your 'verbless' comment on youthtwitter and I understand that it is difficult.

  23. Anonymous  

    Hey Meghna,
    I'm Holly, this must be a rather interesting book. I can barely believe that there is anentire novel that has been written without verbs and still makes sense!

    Anyway, keep up the great work and please do comment back,
    Holly

    P.S. my URL is
    -holly3.learnerblogs.org

  24. Meghna  

    Hi Holly,
    Thanks for dropping by! yeah, it certainly is unbelievable but it's true :P

  25. Unknown  

    Whooo. Now that is the result of a great effort.
    :)

  26. Meghna  

    @ Alok- Certainly :)

  27. Anonymous  

    WoW amazing i have a na assignment where i cant use "Be verbs"..... im having such a hard time.........

  28. Meghna  

    @ Sanju kim- Wish ya luck :)

  29. Anonymous  

    following the sentence structure, isn't a verb vital towards a grammatically correct sentence?

  30. mahendra  

    i read 6 paragraph without a verb

  31. Unknown  

    where can I purchase this book?

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