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Twitterature: growth or flattening?

Twitter, like all social networks, has lights and shadows: on the one hand it can flatten knowledge, on the other it can broaden it. Today we reflect together on this and more by talking about Twitterature, a project born in 2009 which consists of summarizing the classics of literature in 140 characters.
July 12 2024

Did you know that Twitter is also used for bring you closer to the classics of literature? Twitterature, the project born in 2009 by two students from Chicago, consists of 140-character summaries of the major works of world literature.

Virtuous synthesis or reduction of art? We'll leave the judgment up to you once you've had a look. In the meantime, we will tell you a little about this project, we will show you some examples and we will talk to you about how it has been received from its birth to today.

From Chicago to Twitter: the revolutionary idea of ​​Aciman and Rensin

Twitterature originated in 2009 thanks to the creativity of Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin, students at the University of Chicago. Their intuition was to take the masterpieces of world literature and condense them into a series of tweets, each of which did not exceed 140 characters.

This project therefore aims to make i more accessible classics for the new generations, accustomed to the fast pace and concise interactions of social media. Despite the apparent simplicity, the challenge was significant: maintaining the integrity and essence of the original works while respecting the strict limitations of Twitter. Let's see some examples to evaluate together whether the objective has been achieved or not.

How masterpieces are summarized in 140 characters

  • Shakespeare's Hamlet: “BUT WHAT IS POLONIUS DOING BEHIND THE CURTAIN???”
  • Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett: “Still waiting. Trying not to think about this terrible, frustrating situational metaphor we've found ourselves in.”
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh: "Well. Enough. I leave Uruk. My best friend died, all because the gods couldn't handle our great friendship.”
  • The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: “I feel like I've turned into a big insect. Has this ever happened to any of you? No solution on Web MD.”
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Gatsby is so emo. Who cries for his girlfriend while she has breakfast… IN THE POOL?

As you can see, in these examples we are trying to maintain the spirit of the work but in an ironic and contextualizing way with the insertion of modern elements. It is important to consider that to understand the tweet you need to at least have a minimal idea of ​​the work, the characters and the situations. So it's not really an approach from scratch, but at the same time it could lead people who know nothing about it to inform themselves to understand the tweet.

twitter for education and literature

Twitterature experiments and reception

The Twitterature has seen a variety of experiments with varying results. One of the best-known successes is the book “Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books Retold Through Twitter“, which collects the reinterpretations of over eighty famous literary works. Other successful experiments were those of Errico Buonanno, who reconstructed the last day of the Titanic in 70 tweets, and of Tommaso Pincio who told Marilyn Monroe's biography in 50 tweets.

Il debate it obviously ignited within the Western literary community. Some writers see this experiment as a innovative way to bring modern audiences closer to the classics, while others consider it a trivialization of literature. Among the best-known critics is the writer Jonathan Franken, who called Twitter a “fast food of culture” and a “dumb version of Facebook.”

Instead, others, with a more positive outlook, try to find ways to make the “social” writing in the virtuous sense of the term. For example Neil Gaiman experimented with the “twovel” (news on Twitter), inviting his followers to contribute to the writing a collective story, seeking to demonstrate how Twitter can be used not only to promote cultural discussion, but also to create original and collaborative content.

What do you think of this experiment on Twitter?

We believe that the vast majority of means are defined based on their use. In other words, you can make endless Tweets: some may be banal and flatten the works, others may be brilliant, effectively capture the spirit of a work in a modern key, and bring people together who otherwise would never have known the work. the work in question.

And this also opens us up to another reflection of a broader nature: social media can sometimes really waste time and mental energy, it can isolate, lower cultural, intellectual and intellectual standards. Other times, however, it can be a freer means of information than TV and newspapers, it can quickly reach more people and above all it can make people truly participate in the information. Furthermore, it can create unprecedented collaborations and social opportunities. On the other hand, they're called "social" for a reason, right?

So, again, in our opinion Twitterature can be valid or not: it depends on who does it.

And what do you think?

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