What Is a Concept Book?
A concept book is the idea first, the text second — or in some cases, instead.
Definition
A concept book is a book whose primary value is a single governing idea or formal experiment rather than its narrative, information, or argument. The concept is the content. The text (if present) serves the concept rather than communicating independently.
Examples in literary history
Georges Perec's A Void is a concept book: a novel written without the letter 'e'. The concept generates the constraint; the constraint generates the text. Perec's Life: A User's Manual is a concept book: describe a Paris apartment building, room by room, at a single frozen moment. Many Oulipo works are concept books by this definition.
Concept books and the Archive
The Archive's books are concept books in the most extreme form: the concept is to take a single reaction word and give it a book. EW, UGH, LOL, YIKES, and MEH each state their concept in the title. The content fulfills the concept. The reader's understanding of the concept is the reading experience.
Concept books vs. novelty books
Concept books and novelty books overlap. Not all concept books are novelty books (many are serious literary experiments), and not all novelty books are concept books (some novelty books have conventional content in unconventional packaging). The Archive's books occupy both categories simultaneously.
Frequently asked questions
What is a concept book?
A concept book is a book whose primary content is a single governing idea or formal experiment rather than narrative or information.
Are the Archive's books concept books?
Yes. EW, UGH, LOL, YIKES, and MEH are each built around a single concept — give one reaction word the form and scale of a novel.
What are famous examples of concept books?
Georges Perec's A Void (a novel without the letter 'e') and Life: A User's Manual are prominent literary concept books.
Related
History of Novelty Books · What Are Books About Nothing · Experimental Writing · Oulipo