James Joyce Condensed for Twitter?
Can someone “reimagine” Ulysses in 140 character bursts?
You James Joyce fans know that June 16th is “Bloomsday“. The day that Joyce famously detailed in his epic novel [amazon_link id=”1617203475″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Ulysses[/amazon_link]. Well, one fan is planning to reformat and reinterpret that famous novel via Twitter this coming Bloomsday. She’s looking for volunteers to help with the effort, so if you’re interested, hit the article and follow the link there to her project site. Or, if you just want to follow the action yourself, follow the @11ysses Twitter account before 8:00am (Dublin time) June 16th and see how well they make this happen. It could be an interesting effort, or a total train wreck. There’s no telling really.
But, I have to admit, I wonder about this.
The novel is, as you may be aware, a long, challenging literary experiment, of sorts. And, it’s as famously challenging to read as it must have been to write. So, I wonder, is dumbing down a classic like that to 140 character intervals really so fantastic? I should mention that I’ve never actually read the book, though I occasionally feel the urge to attempt it, like some kind of pseudo-intellectual daredevil, attempting to jump a cultural canyon. So, I wonder, will this project make it more accessible to the unwashed masses, like me? Or, will it marginalize the work more than modern society already has?
Or will any significant portion of the modern world even notice?
(And, should any of that matter at all?)
