Strange Bedfellows

If the Huffington Post Wrote the Great Gatsby

Heather Horn 211 Views May 28, 2010
McSweeney's, cult magazine for the literarily eccentric, has a new "list" by Mike Lacher that has particular resonance for those immersed in online media. The title: "Great Literature Retitled to Boost Website Traffic." Lacher takes those mandatory manipulations for Web headlines--including odd juxtapositions, exaggeration, and the use of numbers--and applies them to a few classics.

Here are his offerings for Animal Farm, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and The Jungle:
7 Awesome Ways Barnyard Animals Are Like Communism
The 11 Stupidest Things Phonies Do To Ruin The World
8 Surprising Ways West Egg is Exemplary Of The Hollowness Of The American Dream
6 Shockingly Evil Things The Turn-Of-The-Century Meatpacking Industry Doesn't Want You To Know
Other McSweeney's lists include "Urban Legends," "Popular Twenty-First Century Dwarf Names," and "U.S. Senator or Hobbit?"

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