According to this in the NYTimes, the Japanese may be pointing the way for the evolution of the novel: the cellphone novel, a largely feminine phenomenon:
Of last year’s 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels. What is more, the top three spots were occupied by first-time cellphone novelists, touching off debates in the news media and blogosphere…
Here’s how it works:
One such star, a 21-year-old woman named Rin, wrote “If You” over a six-month stretch during her senior year in high school. While commuting to her part-time job or whenever she found a free moment, she tapped out passages on her cellphone and uploaded them on a popular Web site for would-be authors… After cellphone readers voted her novel No. 1 in one ranking, her story of the tragic love between two childhood friends was turned into a 142-page hardcover book last year. It sold 400,000 copies and became the No. 5 best-selling novel of 2007…
I wonder what it says about our attention spans? And if the authors hew to the minimalism used by most texters, the novels would be positively Hemingwayesque. (And the spelling!)
The Japanese critics were all turning up their noses, said the Times reporter, noting that the cellphone novel “had been dismissed in Japan as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, ‘The Tale of Genji,’ a millennium ago.” Geez, and here I thought the first novel was Moll Flanders — or was it Le Morte d’Arthur, or Tristram Shandy? (For a real argument starter, try this unvetted Wikipedia entry.)
Excuse me, please, but I have to go work on my texting skills…
