froM pArAtex t to polyproCess: the “Quirk y” MAshup novel
89
more notice of the more sovereign and empowered “produser” in a shared
cultural space. What we can, indeed, observe is the need for publishing
houses to share or, at least, to be seen as sharing with their readers. The
publishing house Quirk Books and its “mashup novels” are a key example
of how traditional purveyors of texts seek to participate in contemporary
remix culture, using paratextual strategies to redistribute already freely
circulating mashups.
In the narrow sense, research into digital textuality could investigate
how one kind of text – for instance, Shakespeare’s Elizabethan play Hamlet;
more than 400 years old and obviously shaped by the textualities emerging
around Elizabethan theater (“good” and “bad” quartos etc.), which can be
observed in the textual discussions of various Arden editions – is molded
and forced into observing the media protocol of, for instance, Facebook. This,
in fact, is exactly what author and journalist Sarah Schmelling did in 2008.
She published her “Facebook Hamlet” first on the blog McSweeney’s Internet
Tendency, and subsequently in her book of similar adaptations, Ophelia
Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float. 5 In an email, Schmelling pointed
out that she was in no way involved in the subsequent design adaptation
of her text prepared by Angela Liao, whom she did not know and whose
Photoshopping she did not authorize. The result of Schmelling’s textual
adaptation and Angela Liao’s unauthorized adaptation to the design of
Facebook can still be found on the Web 6 , although Ms. Schmelling advised
against republishing for possible copyright infringement of Facebook’s
designs. The Facebook social media apparatus positions a “distracted” viewer
scrolling down her latest feed on her mobile device and clearly not prepared
for a night out at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In this case, the result
is an amusing parody effect: “The king poked the queen. The queen poked
the king back. Hamlet and the queen are no longer friends and Marcellus
is pretty sure something’s rotten around here. Updated two hours ago.
Comment.” 7 Schmelling uses Facebook tools such as status updates, poking,
commenting, posting events, going offline (i.e. dying), and joining the
athletics group “Daggers.”
The parody also includes further Shakespearian in-jokes such as the
suggested Facebook friend William Davenant, and invokes other products
5 Sarah Schmelling. Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float: Classic Lit Signs on to
Facebook (New York: Plume, 2009).
6 Angela Liao, “Facebook Hamlet.” 2008. Accessed January 6, 2017 www.angelfire.com/art2/
antwerplettuce/hamlet.html
7 Ibid.
89
more notice of the more sovereign and empowered “produser” in a shared
cultural space. What we can, indeed, observe is the need for publishing
houses to share or, at least, to be seen as sharing with their readers. The
publishing house Quirk Books and its “mashup novels” are a key example
of how traditional purveyors of texts seek to participate in contemporary
remix culture, using paratextual strategies to redistribute already freely
circulating mashups.
In the narrow sense, research into digital textuality could investigate
how one kind of text – for instance, Shakespeare’s Elizabethan play Hamlet;
more than 400 years old and obviously shaped by the textualities emerging
around Elizabethan theater (“good” and “bad” quartos etc.), which can be
observed in the textual discussions of various Arden editions – is molded
and forced into observing the media protocol of, for instance, Facebook. This,
in fact, is exactly what author and journalist Sarah Schmelling did in 2008.
She published her “Facebook Hamlet” first on the blog McSweeney’s Internet
Tendency, and subsequently in her book of similar adaptations, Ophelia
Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float. 5 In an email, Schmelling pointed
out that she was in no way involved in the subsequent design adaptation
of her text prepared by Angela Liao, whom she did not know and whose
Photoshopping she did not authorize. The result of Schmelling’s textual
adaptation and Angela Liao’s unauthorized adaptation to the design of
Facebook can still be found on the Web 6 , although Ms. Schmelling advised
against republishing for possible copyright infringement of Facebook’s
designs. The Facebook social media apparatus positions a “distracted” viewer
scrolling down her latest feed on her mobile device and clearly not prepared
for a night out at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In this case, the result
is an amusing parody effect: “The king poked the queen. The queen poked
the king back. Hamlet and the queen are no longer friends and Marcellus
is pretty sure something’s rotten around here. Updated two hours ago.
Comment.” 7 Schmelling uses Facebook tools such as status updates, poking,
commenting, posting events, going offline (i.e. dying), and joining the
athletics group “Daggers.”
The parody also includes further Shakespearian in-jokes such as the
suggested Facebook friend William Davenant, and invokes other products
5 Sarah Schmelling. Ophelia Joined the Group Maidens Who Don’t Float: Classic Lit Signs on to
Facebook (New York: Plume, 2009).
6 Angela Liao, “Facebook Hamlet.” 2008. Accessed January 6, 2017 www.angelfire.com/art2/
antwerplettuce/hamlet.html
7 Ibid.