‘Twitterature’ sums up classic books / LJWorld.com

Archive for Sunday, July 5, 2009

Kim Janssen/Chicago Tribune

July 5, 2009

Did you struggle to make it past page 20 of “Moby Dick”? Do you live in fear of people discovering you’ve never read “Hamlet”?

Too busy for CliffsNotes?

Two University of Chicago freshmen believe they’ve found a solution. The pair recently signed a book deal with Penguin Books to rewrite 75 classic novels and plays as “Twitterature.”

In a move likely to be greeted by book-lovers with a mixture of horror and why-didn’t-I-think-of-that jealousy, college roommates Alex Aciman and Emmett Rensin, both 19, are rewriting classics by Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Dante and other greats in 20 or fewer 140-character tweets.

“Imagine if Achilles had a Twitter account and an iPhone, and he was telling his story in real time,” Aciman said, “that’s what this book is going to be like.”

Rensin added, “It’s like (CliffsNotes), but funnier — it reflects the narcissistic nature of Twitter.”

The precocious pair is in Los Angeles finishing the book, which Penguin hopes will be a best-selling stocking stuffer this Christmas.

They claim to have read all of the books they’re digesting, except for “Twilight,” the popular vampire series for teens.

“A modern classic,” Rensin deadpanned.

Aciman, a comparative literature major from New York, and Rensin, a philosophy major from California, haven’t discussed their invention with their professors.

But literature Prof. W. J. T. Mitchell gave the project his backing, telling the Chicago Tribune, “this is exactly the kind of thing you’d expect University of Chicago students to come up with.”