Movies. Television. Netflix and Hulu. YouTube.
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Tumblr.
Welcome to the twenty-first century, a world in which technology reigns supreme. I personally have a love-hate relationship with technology. Some days, my cell phone (a regular one, not an android phone) and I get along just fine; some days I throw it at the couch. But it's been very interesting in the last few years watching literature persevere through the growth and development of technology.
To be honest, I wasn't crazy about the Kindle when it came out. I mean, really? You couldn't just get a real book?
Confession: I have an iBooks app on my iPod touch and a Kindle application on my laptop.
You gain a lot with an electronic reading device--space, weight in your backpack, the ability to take several books with you, everywhere, at all times. But you lose something, too. The ink and paper smell. The feel of the pages in your hand. The imprint of the title on the spine.
I took an intro-level literature class with our good friend Duck last semester. Reading the books is wonderful and beautiful and adventurous. Studying for tests on the books, though, are not so much fun. So, based on a quote from our professor, Duck and I found a way to blend literature and technology for the purpose of studying for our final exam.
Dr. Jones said one day, "A short story is a tweeted novel."
You have to know this particular literature professor. He routinely quotes Shakespeare in every day conversation. He was making a point of the length of novels and short stories, and the limited amount of space. It gave us (Lindsey and me) an idea. What if we turned the literature we'd read for class into a series of tweets?
Every writing professor I have ever had has stressed that good writing will NOT be able to be summarized in a few simple sentences.
This was not a writing class.
So the brilliant Miss Lindsey went through all the works we'd read in the class, and summarized them in 140 characters or less. It's a brilliant way to study (not write, necessarily), and I suggest it.
Introduction to Literary Studies, works of:
#DarkerFace Augustus ends up doing exactly what everyone knew he would do and everyone is still a slave at the end. #howdythereimoedipustex
(The Darker Face of the Earth by Rita Dove)
#WomensShortStories Lady goes crazy for yellow wallpaper, another lady goes crazy for her dead bird, another lady goes crazy and people die.
(Great Short Stories by American Women, edited by Candace Ward)
#Winesburg Curtis likes shoulders, George is a good listener, #everyoneisagrotesquenomatterhowyoulookatit and Kate creeps on her students.
(Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson)
#MuchAdo DonPedro is black, DonJohn wears his B T-shirt, Benedick is a player, Beatrice is a cynic, Claudio is a pansy, Hero is forgiving.
(Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare)
#Frankenstein Rich kid spends too much time alone, becomes irresponsible father to zombie child, child kills everyone and is unhappy #prozac
(Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley)
#RimeOfAMariner Creeper sailor must tell his drug-induced tail of maritime spirits and dead waterfowl to an innocent wedding guest. #opium
(Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
#Gawain&GreenKnight Green dude w/ #GIANTAX shows up. G accepts game and is tricked. Kisses another dude's wife, labeled a coward. #badnews
(Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, edited by Marie Borhoff)
#Patience #Jonah doesn't want to go to #Nineveh because they'll kill him. Ends up soggy and still incorrect.
(Patience, edited by Marie Borhoff)
PostScript, over a year after this was written: I'm not sure why I never published this. I guess I wanted to wrap it up with a nice little moral or take-away. Take from it what you will. Maybe literature and technology really can work together.
-Finch
