(Fake) Writers on Twitter

I’ve been amused by the fake twitter accounts (twitterjackings) that I’ve come across recently. Of course there are famous rip-offs. No, that’s not really Steve Jobs, sorry. And Condoleezza Rice isn’t tweeting, “LOL! G.W. likes fruitcake.”

But the ones I’ve been encountering have been in the literary realm. Billy Collins started following me, and offering abbreviated poetry. Of course Billy Collins is alive, so at least the joke isn’t exposed — it actually could be Collins. But then there’s all the dead authors.

Enter Jorge Luis Borges. Twice, actually, because he also has a spanish account. Why would someone want to follow him? Perhaps just for the surrealism, the humor, the anachronism (and ana-technological, if I can coin that) of following a dead author. Perhaps for the humor: “Gauchos fighting outside again. Sigh. Can’t sleep.” For the inside jokes to Borges’ blindness. Sometimes channeling the author is a kick to read, like a smashup of various literary/biographical references.

There are three accounts for Ernest Hemingway. More than fifteen William Shakespeare impersonators. Two for Mark Twain.

Herman Melville only has one account, but its name is a doozy: “NothingButDick.” To be fair, it stays true to the name, only publishing 140 character excerpts from Moby Dick. Flannery O’Connor, true to form, has a wicked sense of humor: “‘The lame shall enter first.’ This may be because the lame will be able to knock everybody else aside with their crutches.” O’Connor responds to pop culture by mentioned her appearance on the television show LOST, and even responds to other twitter accounts.

I love all the different approaches: famous quotes, excerpts from their writing, biographical details, or a mix of these and more. But might I suggest that even the more prosaic accounts could be a healthy dose of info for a high school student. And at their best, some accounts are highly entertaining for those familiar with an author.

Of course, if you’re sick with the fake and actually want the genuine article, check out this list of the Top 100 authors on Twitter, including Chuck Palahniuk and Paulo Coelho.

Or you can acknowledge, in a very Jean Baudrillard way, that even the real people on twitter are fake.