Microlit: why less is more

Devon Dudgeon: London's first micro-critic

I will try to be succinct. Microlit is a new trend for ever shorter pieces of text. Inspired by both the the famous six-word story written by Ernest Hemingway –  For sale, baby shoes, never worn – and the microblogging of Twitter.

The latest Time Magazine reports on the the way that US publishers are picking up on the trend with books like Not Quite what I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. I’m not sure if less is really more, but their is something witty in the six word music reviews of Paul Ford of the Morning News. He describes British Sea Power as “Quite catchy. But likely precious live,” which is incredibly to the point and the Pidgeon Detectives as “they’re big in Britain of course”.

The London stage, famous for its verbose reviewing, has its own micro-critic. Devon Dudgeon reviews London theatre to an even tighter wordcount of five words. Here’s what she wrote about last summer’s performance of Grand Theft Impro at the Wheatsheaf:

“Performers’ laughter exceeded the audience’s.”
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