A Book in French sans verbs

A mysterious French author has produced what he claims is the first book without a single verb. MIchel Thaler's 233-page work, Le Train de Nulle Part (The Train from Nowhere), contains lengthy passages of flowery prose but not a lot of action. It is set on a train and features a series of caustic cameos of fellow passengers who, while not doing very much, manage to bring out the poison in Mr.Thaler's pen.

"Those women over there, probably mothers, bearers of ideas for too voluminous for their modest brains," the author writes. Such passages have led critics to deplore the book's "rare misogyny," but Mr.Thaler is equally venomous about the men he encounters on his train journey.

One is described as "a large dwarf or a small giant" - a young buck with a gelled mop" whose ideas were "almost certainly shorter than his hair."

Now the author, a 60-year-old doctor of literature, who admits Mr.Thaler is a pseudonym but refused to give his real name, is planning a bizarre ceremony to bury the verb, which, he says, is an "invader, dictator and usurper of our literature."

Mr.Thaler, who hopes his book will be translated into English, says he loves words - just not verbs. "The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish," he said. "Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself."

(Courtesy: Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004)