A Literary Classic Told in Tweets for the 21st-Century Audience
Moby-Dick is regularly hailed as one of the greatest works of American literature. But suppose Ishmael had instead shared his tale in tweets? #Moby-Dick; or, The Whale hilariously reimagines Herman Melville’s classic whaling novel in just two hundred tweets, each 280 characters or less.
Ishmael here! I went broke in NYC. ☹️ Super bored with land (damp drizzly soul). I’m going to sea! #callme #whalingvoyage
In this witty abridgment, mad captain Ahab’s quest for vengeance upon a white whale is retold with Internet acronyms. The plight of the Pequod and its motley crew is punctuated by the occasional emoji. And Ishmael ponders whaling and humanity with Twitter hashtags.
About Nantucket: It’s a sandy anthill for sea hermits who war with salty mastodons and spend years on the terraqueous globe like landless gulls. #WEIRDOS
Including an appendix that presents the original passages upon which each tweet is derived, #Moby-Dick offers modern readers an entertaining and accessible companion to a great American classic.
And we’re off! Man the capstan! Raise anchor! Set sails! Brrr… ocean spray encases us in ice. Someone mentioned a hot Nantucket supper in three years. Wait! Did he say three?
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#Moby-Dick is now available from local bookstores and Amazon.
Ahab gathered the crew today: “Ya heard of the white whale? That SOB ate my leg. Gold for Moby Dick!” Everyone was all cheering, passing grog, drinking from harpoon sockets. #partay