"You must—do you hear me, young man?—you must work harder," Flaubert told him in 1878. "Too many whores! Too much boating! Too much exercise! Yes, that's right: a civilized man does not require as much locomotion as doctors would have us believe." For Flaubert, keeping fit was a frivolous waste of time and energy:
What you lack are principles. Say what you like, you can't do without principles. The only question is: which ones? For an artist, there is only one: sacrifice everything to art. Life should be treated as a means to an end, and nothing more.
Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method.
Nestor, [a poet] from Greek Asia Minor, was a man who enjoyed a wide following in the early third century AD... He rewrote the entire Iliad, avoiding in each "book" the particular letter by which it was numbered. The statue of Nestor has been found, but unfortunately lacks its head.
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Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryphiodor
the most knowledgeable writer on this subject, the OuLiPolean Raymond Queneau, has an essay on lipograms well worth perusing in the English-language anthology OuLiPo: a Primer of Potential Literature (IIRC).
http://www.amazon.com/Oulipo-Litera
he disentangles some oft-repeated disinformation especially about the lipogram in ancient times
m.
Georges Perec's
"Histoire du lipogramme"
& i think Nestor's Iliad does indeed come as a belated companion to Tryphiodorus.
m.
Nestor has a whole chapter in a recent book called Severan Culture:
http://www.amazon.com/Severan-Culture-S
which luckily for me i can read gratis at the local college library...
m.
Flaubert was no stranger to long walks and whores.
Sincerely,
Tiny Man In Soiled Beret and Gaulois Stained Teeth.