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

Alexander Aciman (Author), Emmett Rensin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 29, 2009

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?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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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Review

"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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143117327
• ISBN-13: 978-0143117322
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #605,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great Tounge-in-Cheek take on Literature, primarily if you hate it October 11, 2010

By E. Deogracias

Format:Paperback

Let's get one thing straight: This is utter, blatant satire. SATIRE. That means that the authors are trying to poke fun at the foundation that literature is based on. Since I'm in high school, I've read quite a few of the classics and I must say that I really did dislike some of them. The authors are geniuses to evoke laughter as well as horror as well as a sense of brilliance for doing this. I'm not saying that this book will be a replacement for any of the books it degrades, but it's a fine way to supplement your knowledge of classic literature in a humorous (if vulgar) fashion.

I can imagine that the audience most offended by this book would be those that have enjoyed these classics for decades/ does not know how twitter works. I've shown this to a few English teachers and they have laughed at seeing their favorites being deconstructed in a mere 1400 or so characters (most books being 10-20 tweets, 140 characters max.)

Just a quick complaint: The book does go into vulgar territory, so much that one could deduce that a couple of college students wrote this as a way to pass time. With that said, carry an open mind, read a "twitterized" passage and ROFL until morning.

While it may be an indication that conventional learning has gone the way of the dodo, it's also a refreshing take on centuries of books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Long-Awaited Arrival December 27, 2012

By Sarah Collova

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I first encountered this book in my History of Theater class. We were reading Lysistrata, and our Professor showed us the portion of this book covering that story. There's some pretty hilarious stuff in there. I'm enjoying the book. Though I've read a lot of the classics, this book in motivating me to read more, just so I can more fully enjoy the "Twitterature". I was disappointed by how long this book took to get to me, though. By the time it was in my hands, the class was practically over. I would have like the shipping to be more prompt.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun for lit lovers December 9, 2011

By aline soules

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is just plain fun. Two very clever undergrads have sent up classic literature tales in the most clever way. To appreciate these "20 tweets or less" fully, however, you need to have read the original classics; otherwise, the humor is lost on you. I had read most of them, but needed to catch up on a couple. Also, I was moved to re-read a couple as well. It's a great idea and the end result is charming.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Twits, these twits anyway, are not Literature February 8, 2010

By Shalom Freedman HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

The only value in this work is the titles of the classical works of Literature. It's always nice to see them.
The comments are meant to be clever and amusing. I found them to be neither. I did however find them to be vulgar, stupid and degrading.
There is no effort on the part of the twitterers to catch in any way the style and tone, the feeling of any of these classic works.
The concept 'rip-off' comes to mind.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars More Swear Words than Funny December 24, 2011

By Stepharoo

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The IDEA behind this book is great. The execution, however, is terrible. To make up for the lack of relevant or funny content, the authors threw in as many dirty words as possible. I do not recommend this book. However, I do recommend the idea to someone who can write it better. If it were a clean book (and if the content were a little more relevant to the actual plots, but still in a funny way), the authors would make much more money.

5.0 out of 5 stars This Makes Classic Literature Fun January 30, 2013

By Ultimate Bookworm

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't really like classic literature, but this makes it more fun and accessible for even the most reluctant reader.

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely funny August 26, 2012

By Meaghan Good

Format:Paperback

Absolutely hilarious -- though, I confess, it was much easier to understand and appreciate the Twitterature versions of books I had read versus books I had not. (I have only read twelve of the fifty or so books tweeted. *hangs head in shame*)

This book very nearly inspired me to join Twitter, too. But not quite.

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Tripe February 21, 2010

By Lina Z

Format:Paperback

Terribly dull and not worth the paper that it's printed on. Best left to twitter itself.