Condensed Form

There was a time when the Duc de La Rochefoucauld’s Reflections or Sentences and Moral Maxims accompanied me wherever I went. If the Duc were alive today, he might be tweeting, his maxims anticipating Twitter:

“If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.”

Other proto-twitterers: Montaigne and Lord Chesterfield might have resisted, Pascal’s uber-nerd genius (“We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.”) would have been unable to resist, Tacitus would have tried but abandoned the attempt. Twitter: a natural home for those who can capture the aphorism in 140 letters.

Masha Tupitsyn’s Laconia: 1200 Tweets on Film is remarkable. Ostensibly a series of condensed thoughts on film and gender, Tupitsyn’s ‘literary experiment’ expands into cultural commentary and diary. As she explains:

“Each tweet in LACONIA is a miniature exegesis; an appraisal of the world through film and media since our understanding of the world has become increasingly, if not entirely, shaped and mediated by both.”

Tupitsyn writes with tender attentiveness, and perceptive humour, that reveals truths:

“103. I just can’t bring myself to watch Changeling or Wanted because looking at Angelina Jolie’s already-dead face is like at [2:19 PM July 27th]

104. Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted skull. [2:20 PM July 27th]”

And:

“141. I think what happened to Christian Bale happened to Mel Gibson. Both actors lost their talent (and their sanity) when they turned into [2:03 PM Aug 18th]

142. ‘Americans.’ [2:04 PM Aug 18th]”