Dot mobile, a British mobile phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages. The company claims the service will be a valuable resource for studying for exams.
Some examples from the article:
"To be or not to be, that is the question" becomes "2b? Nt2b? ???"
The climax of Jane Eyre becomes 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.)
The beginning of "Paradise Lost" becomes "devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war." ("The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.")
Now, as stupid as that plainly is, I can't help feeling like it's all a big put-on. Like this quote from John Sutherland, a University College London English professor who consulted on the project and also chaired the judging panel for this year's Booker Prize for fiction.
"The educational opportunities it offers are immense"
Umm...really. Teaching what, exactly? I mean, when you take poetry, dialog, and narrative flow out of a work of literature, what are you left with? Obviously, not a lot. So, I will view the whole enterprise as parody, unless Sutherland himself convinces me otherwise.
A brilliant parody, in its way. But not as good as "Tales for the L33t: Romeo and Juliet" by Chris Coutts. Really, it's worth installing Flash for.
