@Poldy: Yes

May 25, 2011 8:03 PM

This is not an attempt to tweet mindlessly the entire contents of Ulysses, word-for-word, 140 characters at a time. That would be dull and impossible. What is proposed here is a recasting or a reimagining of the reading experience of this novel, start to finish, within the confines of a day-long series of tweets from a global volunteer army of Joyce-sodden tweeps. (previously!)
posted by Trurl (17 comments total)

Is there any book, major historical event or shopping list which someone isn't tweeting to absolutely nobody at the moment?
posted by joannemullen at 8:14 PM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ulysses is $1.79 right now for kindle, and I may have just bought it.
posted by pwally at 8:16 PM on May 25, 2011

Is the Pierre Menard twitter handle already taken?
posted by gauche at 8:17 PM on May 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Is there any book, major historical event or shopping list which someone isn't tweeting to absolutely nobody at the moment?

Ulysses is perfect for this, though, since it takes place over a single day. There's a great low-tech version of this I try to do every Bloomsday: you bring your copy of Ulysses with you throughout the day and make notes in the appropriate chapter about where you are, what you're doing, etc. It ends up as a kind of diary. I've been doing it for 4 years.

I usually go to a Bloomsday reading each year. This year I was going to read Proteus, my favorite chapter, at the local pub but it takes place when I'm at work.

I think I'll sign up for this project. Thanks for linking it.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:18 PM on May 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Is there any book, major historical event or shopping list which someone isn't tweeting to absolutely nobody at the moment?

As much as the relevant demographics probably overlap significantly, I'm not sure how anyone would Tweet House of Leaves.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:28 PM on May 25, 2011

As much as the relevant demographics probably overlap significantly, I'm not sure how anyone would Tweet House of Leaves.

Tread it like an ARG.

'Just moved in to my new place'.

'That's weird. This hallway seems a bit out of proportion'.

'I think my favorite stripper likes me'.

'The House! The House!'
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:32 PM on May 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

@Minotaur: I probably don't exist, do I?
posted by shakespeherian at 8:42 PM on May 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

They should probably extend this to FourSquare/Facebook Places. The mapping of the literature's space onto the real city and the almost hypertext nature of Ulysses is a parallel to the way we use technology today. It attempts to describe and capture every association and memory and fragment that comes to us on our daily lives, which is something I and others try to do with social media.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:48 PM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sorry, everybody. It was just the first thing that popped into my head.
posted by SPrintF at 9:06 PM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Maybe when he's out wandering around, Bloom will bump into Shackelton.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:24 PM on May 25, 2011

Some people have WAAAAAAAY too much time on their hands!
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:14 PM on May 25, 2011

Some people have WAAAAAAAY too much time on their hands!

I disagree. Bloomsday is one of the few days we can get literature into the public eye.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:27 PM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Lovecraft In Brooklyn: They should probably extend this to FourSquare/Facebook Places

See Penguin's retelling of The 39 Steps.

See also Wanderlust:

Imagine a book that could tell stories tailored to your location – stories that take you from cafes to libraries to museums, not just in one city, but wherever you are in the world.
posted by honest knave at 12:05 AM on May 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

I think twitter is a smaller component in this than my initial impression led me to believe. That's good because I have a (lightly arthritic)knee-jerk dislike for twitter as anything but a venue for comics/ writers to try out one-liners.

But this is cooler than that. I have no idea if it'll work, but hats off.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:06 AM on May 26, 2011

They should probably extend this to FourSquare/Facebook Places.

IIRC, that's not possible (or at least, it would be a fudge in several places) because Dublin's geography has changed, and some of the details were wrong in the first place. I don't have a copy of Epic Geography to hand w/the details, though. You could make a fairly good go of it using the map here, which is a scan of McCarthy and Rose's Joyce's Dublin: A Walking Guide to "Ulysses."
posted by urschrei at 2:41 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Tomorrow, I shall reproduce the art of the Sistine Chapel by throwing drops of paint at your eyes... You'll enjoy it.
posted by tomswift at 3:24 AM on May 26, 2011

I took a class on Ulysses in college, before Twitter, and we all had to do final projects. Well this one guy who came to class everyday with a trombone, tells the class, as we're going around announcing our projects, that he will read the entirety of Ulysses in one day using 'whatever performing enhancing drugs necessary.'

I forget exactly all that happened, but he did read most of it in a single 24-hour period - though he tried to go out to get toilet paper but ended up in Canada drinking absinthe. Appropriate, somehow.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:12 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]