zill

Hi, I wonder if anyone here knew of a novel written entirely in E prime? Since I recently began my journey of E prime writing, I thought reading some E prime masterpiece might help my own writing. Thanks in advance.

Square

I've never heard of any

I wanted to rewrite one of the stories written by me into E-Prime, but I ended up with just the first chapter rewritten, and that didn's include the dialogues.

Good luck to anyone who attempts such a thing!

Karen

I believe Dr. Alfred Korzybski wrote a book called 'Science and Sanity' in e-prime. Althought this book does not represent a novel, to my understanding, he wrote it in e-prime. Below I have identified what I have read about this man and his works.

Back in the early 1900’s a renowned physicist as well as semanticist named Alfred Korzybski discovered a new style of English.

When Korzybski edited his work, he found the English language presented many pitfalls associated with the verb ‘to be’.

He recognized patterns beginning to build. One such pattern reflected how his verbs lacked clarity and he found his words flat and boring.

Moreover, he noticed that all these verbs came from the verb ‘to be’.
When he eliminated the ‘to be ‘verbs, his writing took on a knew meaning and he found that when he replaced these 'to be' verbs with more specific verbs, he wrote with honestly, authenticity and his language tied in closer to his experiences and forced him to take responsibility for his statements.

He called this new language E-Prime, E for English and Prime for the quality of meaning in the written and spoken word.

Karen

E-Green

This book is not considered a novel by most everyone, but the author does speak in great detail about E-Prime. I personally connect with his explanations and suggested uses for E-Prime.

"Quantum Psychology" - By: Robert Anton Wilson.

The web page link below can be a helpful insight to the rest the book. I think it's a good read.

http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm

__________________

Karen

I would enjoy conversing with other members or guests in e-prime from this site. If you would like to practice your written e-prime with me, then you can reach me at my e-mail address; swimmer@cyber.net.pk

At present my husband and I have a book in the making that we committed to writing in e-prime. Our book focuses on managers in any type of organization working with employees in: communication, planning and execution, strategy building, appraising, motivating and energizing. We look forward to having it published by the end of the year.

Wildway

The immediate problem I run into when writing modern fiction in e-prime concerns character dialogue; though I might write in e-prime, the rest of the world doesn't, much less speak it. So then, what do I have these characters speak? Unless I stay really committed to the notion of e-prime as a separate, new language, and consider my character's dialogue a translation from the foreign language of "english" into "e-prime", I find it hard to justify writing dialogue that doesn't reflect how people speak.

Good luck on the book Karen!

Michael

Hmmm... maybe I should try and re-write a short, classic novel to conform to E-Prime. Any suggestions?

ZeroCapacity

Wildway hit on the problem precisely. Writing an entire fiction book in e-prime would be very difficult. The reason for this derives from believability. Not many speak e-prime in their daily lives, making the characters somewhat of an oddity in the scope of human vision.

Karen

Karen here. Very happy to read the recent posts. I don't agree with your statement that Zero Capacity would have difficulty writing an entire fiction book in e-prime because of believability. Can you send an example of your writing to me on this site?

ZeroCapacity

lol do you want a copy of my writing Karen or zill's?

suspect

The books Science and Sanity seems interesting. I definitely want to try it out. I hope the stores here got them or maybe my luck helps me to have them online for free.

KateGladstone

Re:

"I believe Dr. Alfred Korzybski wrote a book called 'Science and Sanity' in e-prime."

You believe falsely, Karen. Though Korzybski wrote against "is" in his "Science and Sanity," his book abounds in "is"-filled/"be"-filled statements (such as "Isness is insanity" and "the word is not the thing."

Korzybski neither used E-Prime nor created its name: a disciple of his, the late David Bourland, did both, Please Google "David Bourland".

Re your own attempt at E-Prime in:

"Although this book does not represent a novel"

— this looks (to me) like cheating: re-defining the licit word "represent" so that you can now just plug it into the same place as the illicit word "be." May I suggest, instead, "Although I do not consider this book a novel"?

Karen

Thank you Kate for your response. I found your statement 'You believe falsely' coming across as a bit aggressive. I would have preferred, You and I have a difference of opinion regarding ......., or Contrary to what you have said or written, I believe......, or we differ in our views regarding......I would have felt more comfortable with any of these responses.

Having made the above statements, allow me to respond to your statement.

Correctly stated, Dr. Korzybski did write a book called Science and Sanity. He discovered when he used the 'to be' verbs his writings allowed the reader to come to conclusions other than what he had intended. More people know of Dr. Korzybski as a semanticist as well as an author who I believe brought more awareness to e-prime than its originator the late Mr. Bourland. May I suggest you do more research of Dr. Korzybski and learn more about what he has contributed to the English language. Also, may I suggest that you read Dr. Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication. Although he does use standard English, one can easily convert his language into e-prime. He focuses on using assertive language that connects quickly with people before correcting them.

nodalnim

I know of a joyfully clever book of philosophy written in E-Prime: Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson. I recommend it highly. I bought it a few years ago because I wanted to experience reading E-Prime. I quickly fell in love with his writings & have read several books since.

He writes in E-Prime to demonstrate his basic point, that we cannot know anything with certainty, that everyone lives in their own separate "reality tunnels," each of which contains its own completely unique ideas about what "is" true & what "is" not. He takes th concepts of relativity & agnosticism to new levels. I found myself quite changed & inspired by his ideas.