{"id":95772,"date":"2016-03-21T14:30:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T18:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=95772"},"modified":"2016-03-21T14:25:56","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T18:25:56","slug":"character-limit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/21\/character-limit\/","title":{"rendered":"Character Limit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"olivettiad\"<\/a>

From an Olivetti ad by Studio 44 Advertising, 1956.<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s an expression called \u201cusing too many points.\u201d It refers to those moments when a novelist (or any storyteller, really) strains credulity by using too many coincidences or easy plot twists or intersecting plotlines. It\u2019s when the reader, or viewer, loses faith\u2014the jump-the-shark moment, in essence.<\/p>\n

In some ways, it seems like God is using too many points, making Twitter\u2019s tenth anniversary coincide with World Poetry Day. In some ways, indeed, we have not seen such a luridly obvious contrast since SantaCon coincided with New York\u2019s massive Millions March demonstration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet, you can see it as a harmonious coincidence, too. Not least because Twitter users are a great advocate for World Poetry Day: the hashtag has doubtless led a few people to click on links they might otherwise not have, or induced them to learn 140 characters of verse. The enthusiasm is heartening, and often moving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNESCO<\/small> named March 21 World Poetry Day in 1999. According to their official explanation,<\/p>\n

\n

One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities. It\u2019s also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables\u00a0society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which, really, is pretty much the polar opposite of Twitter. In celebration, there are 140-character-plus events\u2014readings and poem shares\u2014all over the world, and\u00a0some caf\u00e9s in Dublin are apparently accepting poems as payment<\/a>, which is lovely if somewhat easier, in an age of smartphones, than it once might have been. But then, it still gets customers reading poems, which is of course the point. On the other hand, this prompted many people to contribute poems in the article\u2019s comments section, where someone wrote,<\/p>\n

\n

I call this poem \u2018Infinity\u2019<\/p>\n

Please empty the register
Of cash and put
It all in
a Brown Paper Bag<\/p>\n

So I just write in on a slip of paper and hand it to the person behind the counter?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Poetry has always made people self-conscious. It forces them to joke and diminish and be silly. And anonymity allows for much more boldness, after all\u2014if fewer characters. Meanwhile, here is Mark Bibbins on\u00a0\u201cThe Anxiety of Coincidence<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an expression called \u201cusing too many points.\u201d It refers to those moments when a novelist (or any storyteller, really) strains credulity by using too many coincidences or easy plot twists or intersecting plotlines. It\u2019s when the reader, or viewer, loses faith\u2014the jump-the-shark moment, in essence. In some ways, it seems like God is using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[10031,6397,21609,21607,7221,165,21608,126,3803,13261],"class_list":["post-95772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-anniversaries","tag-berlin","tag-mark-bibbins","tag-payment-in-poetry","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-too-many-points","tag-twitter","tag-unesco","tag-world-poetry-day"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn World Poetry Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 21, 2016 \u2013 There\u2019s an expression called \u201cusing too many points.\u201d It refers to those moments when a novelist (or any storyteller, really) strains credulity by using\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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