A Man of Few Words - The Short Humour of Swan Morrison

Book excerpt: With today's busy lifestyles there can barely be time to read anything. Fears have been expressed that English literature might become the preserve of a few specialist academics, as texts in cuneiform script and hieroglyphic writing. The answer could be Short Humour, which can be read at any time and almost anywhere. Far Eastern, low cost, pirate versions of The Oxferd Inglish Ducksionery explain Short Humour as 'Non-serious writing that is not too long'. Swan Morrison defined 'not too long' as around 500 words, and stories, poems and the like began to be written that could be read in their entirety in less than ninety seconds. A Man of Few Words is a collection of one hundred such examples of SH by Swan Morrison with a connecting theme of life in contemporary Britain. In addition, The Short Humour Site has been created at www.short-humour.org.uk. This site aims to promote the reading and writing of SH both in Britain and throughout the world and to showcase the work of writers of the genre.