"Table Talk" is an ongoing feature of Salon's community forum that took me back to the Classics Illustrated, the comic book alternative to the real thing in my misspent youth. Instead of a 48-page comic book, the smartass contributers at Salon demonstrated the 6-word summary of the literary canon. The "Great Books" in 6 words each. Talk about a time-saver. Use this link to read more recent postings in this thread (as they say in the e-mail-list-biz). The 6-word summary of this blog? Tedious ramblings of an old coot. If this is a (fair & balanced) compendium, so be it.
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Best of Table Talk i— Condensed Literature
Could you sum up a classic in six words? Members of Salon's community, "Table Talk," take a crack at it this week.
May. 30, 2008 | Imagination
Six words to great lit'rature
Lando -- 01:14 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008
In honor of "the six-word short story" and "your life in six words," this thread is open to six-word homages to classic works of literature.
Whether you want to reduce Jane Austen's classic opening sally to six words (Truth here: Rich men need wives) or sum up Robert Frost ("Out walking. Took a new path"), this is the place to do it.
The times were good. Also bad.
A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens
My name is definitely not Isaac.
Moby-Dick, Melville
Meera Hyphenated -- 01:56 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #3 of 28
Bilbo took quest. Got the Ring.
The Hobbit, Tolkien
Twelve people tried to return it.
Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien
Ring got tossed. Frodo came home.
Return of the King, Tolkien
Heidi Lynn -- 03:53 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #5 of 28
Man catches fish. Sharks eat it.
The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway
Kids sneak around, get married, die.
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare
Desperate, noble poor get shafted. Repeatedly.
The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
Rapacious government consumes truth, excretes war.
1984, Orwell (or the Bush administration)
Soldier rushes fate, gets cocky, loses.
Macbeth, Shakespeare
Lando -- 04:00 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #6 of 28
Be good. Precisely how is unclear.
The Bible (Old Testament)
LaurenF -- 04:48 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #8 of 28
Man sleeps with mother. Gouging ensues.
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
Woman sleeps with preacher. Branding ensues.
The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne
Tonstant Weader -- 07:13 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #10 of 28
Woman sleeps with count. Suicide ensues.
Anna Karenina, Tolstoy
Literal, symbolic rabbits are petted, mauled.
Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck
longtime -- 09:25 pm Pacific Time -- May 28, 2008 -- #11 of 28
Hell, Purgatory, Heaven and sweet Beatrice.
The Divine Comedy, Dante
After much dithering, revenge is deadly.
Hamlet, Shakespeare
Three daughters, two bad, one good.
King Lear, Shakespeare
No one misses a charming bootlegger.
The Great Gatsby, Fitagerald
Satan falls, tricks Eve, Adam follows.
Paradise Lost, Milton
Achilles sulks. Friend dies. Achilles fights.
The Iliad, Homer
Jared2 -- 06:53 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #14 of 28
Nothing happens. Then nothing happens again.
Waiting for Godot, Becket
Virgin gets knocked up by angel.
New Testament
Lando -- 07:53 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #17 of 28
Red-headed orphans: Well worth the trouble.
Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery
Vile man pities self, hates world.
A Confederacy of Dunces, Toole
Jared2 -- 09:05 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #19 of 28
Pandora opens box. Four horsemen escape.
Prometheus gives man fire; has regrets.
Pilgrims set out; much hilarity ensues.
Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
MGF -- 09:30 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #24 of 28
The Austen Oeuvre:
Unworthy entanglements neutralized, appropriate pairings proceed.
Sense & Sensibility
Hysterical mother marries off three daughters.
Pride & Prejudice
Poor relation annoys readers, weds cousin.
Mansfield Park
Alleged spinster, failed matchmaker makes match.
Emma
Girl renounces pulp fiction, finds husband.
Northanger Abbey
Yes this time, family be damned.
Persuasion
Or, to be utterly concise:
Worthy maidens get husbands they deserve.
Randall -- 11:03 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #27 of 28
Life's not worth it. So what?
L'Etranger, Camus
LaurenF -- 11:14 am Pacific Time -- May 29, 2008 -- #28 of 28
Man turns cockroach. No one cares.
The Metamorphosis, Kafka
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