SOURCE: "Read My Lipograms," in New York Times Book Review, March 12, 1995, pp. 3, 30.

In the following review, Kincaid focuses on the playfull nature of the lipogram form, and offers several examples.

"OAF! Pinbrain! Numskull! Big fat ninny! Nincompoop! Half-wit!… Moron! Lazy good-for-nothing!" That's a passage from our novel. Notice anything odd about it? Read it aloud—but don't yell it at somebody. Then sing this song (karaoke background helps). It's the opening of the well-known and affecting "You-Can't-Attain-It Fantasy":

    To fancy that unavailing apparition!
    To fight that dirt-tough bad guy!
    To put up with that aggravating sorrow!
    To run in many risky spots!

That stops before we hit the best line—"To just march right into Satan's pit in support of a good policy"—but you get the idea. The idea is to write without using an E.

The real idea is: "Only within severe, almost crippling restraint do...