Mar 07, 2016
Georges Perec’s 80th Birthday
This Doodle’s Key Themes
Where others might feel stifled--even bewildered--Georges Perec felt his most free. The French author and tireless literary innovator saw constraints as a means of liberation. He viewed the craft of writing as a game, a way to upend his readers’ understanding of language and its accepted forms. Perec loved puzzles, and filled his works with anagrams, palindromes, and other verbal trickery.
He belonged to a curious coterie of French writers and mathematicians called the Oulipo, a group of literary experimentalists who proposed things like the S-7 method, a technique that involved rewriting classic poetry by replacing each word with the seventh word after it in the dictionary.
Doodler Sophie Diao’s reimagining of today’s homepage honors Perec’s most challenging, and perhaps most ridiculous experiment--writing an entire novel without using the letter “e”. La Disparition is nearly 300 pages long, and there is nary a hint of our most common vowel in the entire work. That means you won’t find a “the,” a “he,” a “nearly impossible,” or a “Happy birthday, Monsieur Perec.”
Where this Doodle appeared
Discover more Doodles by color
Did you know?
The very first Doodle launched as an “out of office” message of sorts when company founders Larry and Sergey went on vacation.
Learn MoreDid you know?
The first Doodle launched in 1998, before Google was officially incorporated.
Learn MoreDid you know?
The first same day Doodle was created in 2009 when water was discovered on the moon.
Learn MoreDid you know?
Doodle for Google student contest winners have gone on to become professional artists
Learn MoreDid you know?
The time it takes from sketch to launch for a Doodle varies widely: some have taken years and others just a few hours!
Learn MoreDid you know?
Hundreds of Doodles launch around the world every year. Often, several different ones are live in different places at the same time!
Learn MoreDid you know?
Our most frequently recurring Doodle character is Momo the Cat - named after a real-life team pet!
Learn More