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What is Twitterature?

A chat with Penguin editors

A few months ago when we gathered some Penguin editors to talk about their Ten Essential Penguin Classics, we also talked about their new book, Twitterature. Joining the discussion in order to talk about what "twitterature" is, and how we can relate to classics books in a modern way, were Elda Rotor, Editorial Director, John Siciliano, Editor, Stephen Morrison, Associate Publisher, and Jeremy Tescher, National Account Manager of Paperback Sales.

So, what is Twitterature?

John: Twitterature is a new Penguin book that, in a way, translates more than 80 of the great works of literature into Twitter-speak. What's fascinating is that it's written by two teenagers, two nineteen-year-old guys who met at the University of Chicago in their freshman year. They were roommates, and they hatched this idea because they'd read all these books; they are far better read than I am. And I think they've really nailed how to convey the specialness of each of these books, how to make them hip. None of these entries read the same way, so it's not this rote, programmatic approach that you can apply to Of Mice and Men as equally as you can to Moby Dick or Walden. But these guys, the authors, know the lingo of a person on Twitter, or else another modern-day teenager who has an iPhone and a Twitter account. And the reason I wanted to publish this book is that it does the job of translating the classics for our moment better than I could have done.

Stephen: And yet it makes you curious about the books. I mean, when I was saying to John that I was going on vacation last week and that I was going to read The Red and the Black, he forwarded me the Twitterature outline to it. And, you know, I read it and it made me laugh as I went through it. Now that I'm three-quarters of the way through the book, I realize that the Twitterature authors managed to sum up the plot, yes, but they also captured some of the central thematic elements of the novel, which is about ambition and love and all sorts of things that are actually timeless. But the Twitterature version says it in a way that's so entertaining that when I finally got to the book and was reading it as it is, I wasn't, obviously, referring back to the Twitterature posts, but it helped put a little bit of a spotlight on some of the themes in the novel that were timeless.

So the book is more for context, but not necessarily a complete replacement?

Stephen: No, not at all a replacement. When John first bought the book, there'd been a funny debate about, "What are we doing with this? This is ruining the classics." But if anything, it's yet another way to shine a different light on these books.

Jeremy: I think it'll make you laugh if you're familiar with the books and, if you're not, you'll feel like, "Yeah, I should pick this one up already."

Stephen: It made me curious about different books. I mean, I had a pile of different things to read last week, and after reading Twitterature I felt safe in trying to tackle this 600-page French novel.

Jeremy: That's what a good teacher does, anyway: kind of distill it down into ways that we can easily understand it. So Twitterature is kind of instructive in its own weird, funny way.

John: Yeah, as irreverent as it is, at the end of the day it is a celebration of all of these works. The authors kind of put it into a contemporary voice, but there's this love for these works that comes out. Can I just read a little bit? Jane Eyre, for example; I admit I've never read Jane Eyre.

Elda: Me neither.

John: So then reading this entry is just fascinating. This is catnip for any book-lover or anyone who's been intrigued by the idea of Jane Eyre but wasn't quite ready to commit it. So the first few lines of the entry are:

I wish my parents had died impressively. Like Harry Potter; that kid's got one hell of an orphan story.

I have to live with my aunt. Total beo-tch. This is like Cinderella. Except no fairy godmother.

My aunt is sending me to a crap boarding school. Its like the ones you see in commercials for Save The Children on the History Channel.

The education is legit. Like we read books, but kids are dying of illness. This place is grimier than a hooker's snatch.

So apparently by not getting Swine Flu or TB I qualified for a teaching position?

Just got offered a job as a governess for a caddy single dad who needs to change womanizing ways. This would make a great Hugh Grant flick.

Romance, romance, this poppa Rochester wants to get in my pants!

You can tell there's a kind of literary quality to the entries themselves-that last line rhymes! And the entries are full of references to pop culture, to Hugh Grant, to Harry Potter, to the History Channel. So it makes it relatable, and it's funny.

You can tell there's a kind of literary quality to the entries themselves-that last line rhymes! And the entries are full of references...

Jeremy: And I don't think people will do a double-take when they see that Penguin publishes it. I think that they trust Penguin to do this thing right and that the brand is really what associates-maybe the whole house, coming form the Penguin Classics line-associates the imprint and the entire house with, you know, being a authoritative source for this kind of stuff, whether it be the actual literature or commenting on the literature.

John: And what they've written is excellent comedy. They've honored the works they're parodying. Plus, they're ambitious. They didn't go the easy way with any of the entries. They even wrote their entry on The Inferno in terza rima. Very impressive.

Ten Essential Penguin Classics Penguin Classics Editors Twitterature Jane Eyre Literature Elda Rotor John Siciliano Stephen Morrison Jeremy Tescher Alexander Aciman Emmett Rensin