Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less

by Alexander Aciman, Emmett Rensin

Overview

Perhaps while reading Shakespeare you've asked yourself, What exactly is Hamlet trying to tell me? Why must he mince words and muse in lyricism and, in short, whack about the shrub? But if the Prince of Denmark had a Twitter account and an iPhone, he could tell his story in real time--and concisely! Hence the genius of Twitterature.

Hatched in a dorm room at the brain trust that is the University of Chicago, Twitterature is a hilarious and irreverent re-imagining of the classics as a series of 140-character tweets from the protagonist. Providing a crash course in more than eighty of the world's best-known books, from Homer to Harry Potter, Virgil to Voltaire, Tolstoy to Twilight and Dante to The Da Vinci Code. It's the ultimate Cliffs Notes. Because as great as the classics are, who has time to read those big, long books anymore?

Sample tweets:

From Hamlet: WTF IS POLONIUS DOING BEHIND THE CURTAIN???

From the Harry Potter series: Oh man big tournament at my school this year!! PSYCHED! I hope nobody dies this year, and every year as if by clockwork.

From The Great Gatsby: Gatsby is so emo. Who cries about his girlfriend while eating breakfast...IN THE POOL?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101162828
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/29/2009
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	298 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alexander Aciman was born in 1990 and attended the University of Chicago during which time he cowrote Twitterature: World’s Greatest Books in 20 Tweets with Emmett Rensin. Currently, Aciman writes for Tablet Magazine and Time.

Emmett Rensin was born in 1990 and attended the University of Chicago, during which time he cowrote Twitterature: World’s Greatest Books in 20 Tweets with Alexander Aciman. He writes for various publications including Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Do you hear that? It's the sound of Shakespeare, rolling over in his grave."
—The Wall Street Journal

"Twitterature makes me want to punch someone, preferably the 'authors'. They're in Chicago. I'm gonna take a road trip..."
—@damig, Twitter

"JUst f*#%&ng shoot me now..."
—Mike C, grouchyconservativepundits.com

Editorial Reviews

The age of Twitter has arrived, and precocious young writers Aicman and Rensin have taken it upon themselves to redo the world's most beloved literary classics for the Status Update generation. Taking the point of view of the protagonist (sometime several), the duo translate everything from The Old Man and the Sea to The Aeneid to the graphic novel Watchmen in under 2800 characters (20 "tweets" of up to 140 characters each). Splitting the focus between succinct mimicry and anachronistic wackiness (from The Great Gatsby: "Two bad drives met. :O," "Gatsby is so emo. Who cries about his girlfriend while eating breakfast... IN THE POOL?"), Aicman and Rensin can reach moments of inspired hilarity; from Oedipus: "this woman is ALL OVER ME! Total MILF." Juvenile comic asides and texting abbreviations abound ("WTF is Mercutio talking about?"), as do titter-worthy internet cultural references (from Frankenstein: "Just did a bit-torrent-style grave robbery"), though the target audience probably won't have much interest in running commentary on Goethe, no matter how clever (or brief) it is. Readers who persevere will find structured wit and classic charm that belie the authors' 19 years, making this a promising curiosity for the wired literary enthusiast.
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Publishers Weekly

"Do you hear that? It's the sound of Shakespeare, rolling over in his grave."
—The Wall Street Journal

"Twitterature makes me want to punch someone, preferably the 'authors'. They're in Chicago. I'm gonna take a road trip..."
—@damig, Twitter

"JUst f*#%&ng shoot me now..."
—Mike C, grouchyconservativepundits.com

From the Publisher