What happens to your data when you die?
Hackers in Siberia do a bustling trade in information. A Mary Kay saleswoman uses Facebook to push lipstick. Silicon Valley’s genius seer claims to have developed an “intelligence instrument” that can predict the future.
This is the world of Dead SULs, a novel-in-progress that reimagines one of Russian literature’s masterpieces.
First published in 1842, Nikolai Gogol’s novel Dead Souls was a darkly comic look at Russia’s social structure during the time of serfdom. Translated to the present day, Gogol’s “souls” have been replaced by SULs – Suspended User Lists – from a certain social network. And one desperate entrepreneur, determined to make his way in the high-altitude scene of tech startups and paper millionaires, will do anything to collect as many of them as possible.
An exploration of identity in the Internet era – an adaptation of Gogol for the age of Google – Dead SULs considers the meaning of our constantly logged-on lives.
(For more background, have a look at this site’s first and third blog posts. And if you’re looking to get in touch, email me at kirstinbutler [at symbol] gmail [dot] com or through my personal website. Thanks for stopping by!)
