Warning: geek post. T.S. Eliot's classic poem, The Waste Land has now been made available on iPad - "hoorah" shout the literature nerds! A whole new generation of students can now interact with the poem via their iPads and I've got to say, I'm a bit jealous. The poem is brilliant but it's fair to say that it's more than a bit of a challenge at times and this is bound to lend a more than helping hand. It's not exactly cheap as far as apps go but for £9.99 ($13.99) you can now download 'a wealth of interactive features' that 'brings alive the most revolutionary poem of the last hundred years for a 21st century audience'.
Although fans of Crazy Birds and Temple Run might think the price tag is a little steep, it was claimed that Faber and Touch Press earned back its costs in six weeks after it jumped up the Apple chart following rave reviews.
The new app provides interactive notes for the reader, indicating a number of references and allusions to the reader. The original manuscript is also there for the reader, written in Eliot's own hand. Six recordings of the poem by the likes of Ted Hughes and Alex Guinness give you that little bit extra but apparently there is also a reading by the poet himself! To be honest, if I were ever to buy this app, it would most likely to be for that feature.
Saying that, reviewers of the app can't help praising Fiona Shaw's filmed performance of the poem that is cleverly synchronised with the text. The footage was 'specially-filmed by Adam Low, director of the BBC Arena documentary on Eliot'.
I don't have an iPad but would any of you GlamTech people buy it?
If the answer's 'yes', you can download it via the Apple Store. Then tell me what it's like...
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