Teju Cole did Something Brilliant on Twitter

A short story, 140 characters at a time.

By Aura Bogado Jan 08, 2014

Teju Cole just told a short story in a whole new way. Cole, whose current Twitter bio asks, "We who?" retweeted 35 users to tell a story that begins with a narrator seeing "a man on the ground":

We soon learn that others are there:

The scene is solemn:

Part of the genius here is that Cole is weaving together many voices to tell one story–which good storytelling always aims to do. And Cole does so on a medium that is best known for hastags, yet he doesn’t use one to here. One also has to read from the bottom up in order to understand its meaning.

By defamiliarizing  something that might otherwise read as an everyday story on an everyday medium, he adds an incredible amount of depth to the way the reader discerns it. In a word, it’s brilliant. 

Want to read the whole story? Head over to @tejucole