66 Plots Updated - Part 2

by Mark Needham, Bill Proud (Illustrator)

66 Plots Updated is a work of humour, with a serious point. “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height." said E.M. Forster - but was he right? We are all connected as never before, but some of the uses this connnectivity has been put to are less than exalted.66 Plots Updated looks at the effect which new technologies might have had on the literature of the great tradition, and asks if these gadgets do actually make us happier.Typically, the issue of whether new technologies have made us happier is approached with surveys, most of which seem to be sponsored by someone with a vested interest. To answer the question “Does Facebook increase or decrease isolation?”, for example, researchers asked a panel of 1200 users a number of questions about their feelings of loneliness and isolation. Their “We discovered that the more people use social networks, the better they feel.” But as these researchers were paid by Facebook, what else did could they be expected to report?This part of the book takes a look at some famous characters who aspired to human love at its height, and what might become of them in a world where distance is no longer a barrier to communication. The plots covered include35. The Count of Monte Cristo, 36. Swann's Way (A la recherche volume 1), 37. In the shadow of Young Girls in Flower (volume 2), 38. The Guermantes Way, (volume 3),39. Sodom and Gomorrah, (volume 4), 40. The Captive (volume 5) 41. The Return of the Native, 42. Bridget Jones' Diary, 43. The Diary of a Nobody, 44. Lord of the Rings, 45. The Hobbit, 46. Le Rouge et Le Noir.47. Twelfth Night,48. The Waste Land, 49. Of Grammatology, 50. Testament of Youth, 51. Brideshead Revisited, 52. Wuthering Heights, 53. Jane Eyre writes, 54. Snow White, 55. Tender is the Night, 56. Strangers and Brothers57. The Light and the Dark58. The Masters, 59. Gulliver's Travels,60. Darkness at Noon, 61. Life and Fate, 62. The End of the Affair, 63. The Rector's Daughter, 64. The House at Pooh Corner, 65. The Scarlet Letter 66. Tess - one more look. Full details of 66 Plots Updated is at www.66plots.com.This book is enrolled on the KDP Select program which means that it will be given away free of charge for 5 days out of 90. See www.66plots.com/blog for details of this schedule.

56 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 6, 2014