Penguin.com (usa)

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 Cliff 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?

 

Press (Advance Reaction):

"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

"Sincerest apologies to Shakespeare, Stendhal and Joyce: how were we to know it would come to this?" —Mashable.com

"Just f*ck*ng shoot me now...." —Mike C, grouchyconservativepundits.com

Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin are rising sophomores at the University of Chicago. Alex has written for The New York Times and The New York Sun, and Emmett for The Huffington Post.