To text or not to text… that was never the question. But what if Hamlet or Jane Eyre had got their hands on a mobile phone? Mallory Ortberg introduces her series of literary masterpieces reimagined for the 21st century
Almost everyone, I think, has at least one friend who likes to relay enormously significant, life-altering news in a careless, after-the-fact way – “Did I not mention I left him?” It’s somehow maddening and endearing, the proportion of which is dependent on your personal tolerance levels. When we text, I don’t have to see your face or hear your voice when I flake out on plans 30 minutes before I’m supposed to show up; we can be our worst and most thoughtless selves with a minimum of fallout.
It was while brooding on this that I began to imagine text exchanges from various characters in literary history. Take Jane Eyre. Mr Rochester is an impulsive, intensely brooding, by turns romantic and terrifying figure; I’m convinced he is also the type of person who would regularly text in all caps and send message after message without waiting for a reply. Daisy Buchanan would not only text while driving; she would text you to come and pick her up after she totalled her car. And you’d do it, but you’d hate yourself the entire drive over.
Continue reading...
No comments:
Post a Comment