#Moby-Dick Or, the Whale

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.

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.

Mike Bezemek is a writer, photographer, editor, and teacher. He’s contributed work to a variety of publications, including Canoe & Kayak Magazine, Bull, Hobart, The Morning News, FalconGuides, and elsewhere. He’s not the Mike Bezemek that lives in Texas. He’s the other one.