The most famous examples of lipograms are two long works by
Georges Perec:
A Void (which is missing the letter
E) and
The Exeter Text (which is missing A, I, O and U). Many lipograms, in their short form, are unintentional and unnoticed, but, pushed to their limits as in Perec's
novels, they become complex
puzzles, and require a linguistic mastery that
tax (and delight) the
reader as much as the
writer.
The lipogram was one of the many rule-based writing forms explored by
OuLiPo.