Year or so ago read a story about how "The Classics" were going to be published in shorter versions, to be more reader friendly. Who needs to read a chapter from Melville on whale blubber? Well, problem is, that it's never just about whale blubber is it?
I was thinking why stop with shortening a 700 page book to say 350 pages. Do it right! Get it down to 125 Words.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby gets the first such treatment:
I, Nick Carraway, was told to go East. Settled in West Egg, cannot reside in the East for I am too honest. I stare out to the green light and imagine the life of Gatsby across the bay—then watch him vanish. My eyes aren’t the only witness, glance up to the faded eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg's watching over the ash heaps. Tom’s a brute, ruling life. Watch Daisy float and fall in love with shirts. Jordan cheats and could never be. Poor Myrtle, ripped asunder, damned. Then Gatsby, the man I knew, but did not. Really Gatz, but his books were real. I did not pull the lever. Glittering and new gray ash heaps, before me, pathfinder for a generation in the loneliest decade.
Okay, now your turn!
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Oooooh! I like. This is a great idea! Okay, so I'm going to have to comb my old novels and see what I can (attempt to) condense. Confession: my world became so non-fiction tilted at the U; it has been ages since I read a novel. Actually, come to think, I believe your extra copy of Lolita was the last. I've some catching up to do, no?
ReplyDeleteSiri!
ReplyDeleteYes you do! But we all do, never enough time to read or read it all. But it is fun trying.
In the last months since reading "Infinite Jest" I have been in a non-fiction place too. Yes read a novel! Read "The Great Gatsby" and then do your own version of 125 Word Literature.