Mr. Plimpton's Revenge

Mr. Plimpton's Revenge is a piece of electronic literature, also known as a Google Maps essay. A Google Maps essay is a story that is told on the Google Maps webpage, and that walks you through the locations in which the characters were to make you feel as if you are part of the story.  This piece was told by Dinty Moore, a college student, in the year of 1977. Dinty and Mr. Plimpton met because Dinty was chosen to be Plimpton’s chauffeur when he was in the city to speak at the University of Pittsburgh. After this first encounterance, the two individuals ran into each other in many other places such as Harrisburg, New York City, and Baltimore. As readers read through this piece, they will question what Plimpton’s revenge actually is. But the real question is, is there any revenge at all?

This story is basically about an accidental stalking by a man who cringes at the thought of the first impression he gave to famous author, Mr. Plimpton. Every time Dinty unintentionally runs into Mr. Plimpton, he is afraid that Mr. Plimpton only remembers him as his scraggly, stoned college self. Dinty believes that the reason he ignores him in New York City is because Mr. Plimpton remembers him, but not very fondly. Though Dinty spends years worrying about the first impression to Mr. Plimpton, he soon finds out that Mr. Plimpton doesn’t even remember him. Mr. Plimpton’s revenge doesn’t really exist, since he does not even remember Dinty. What makes this piece entertaining and funny is having the two main characters be seeing things in a completely different way. The “revenge” that Mr. Plimpton gets is simply playing along with Dinty’s coworkers and pretending to remember that he drove him the the airport, when in reality all those times he saw Dinty in Harrisburg, New York City, and Baltimore, he wasn’t ignoring him, but just didn’t remember him.

This story being on Google Maps made it more of an interactive experience. As you can see to the right, the Google Map shows you all the locations you have been to help you understand the storyline better. You can see where the Pittsburgh Airport is, where the two characters had first met, along with many other significant locations that are marked for the reader.

This is not the first time I have seen an interactive map project, although I did find it relatively unique. Most of the others that I have seen before include just a simple commentary/anecdote on the marked location, a photo of the marked location, or (like this piece) telling a story with several locations. The way this story works out is that a student at the University of Pittsburgh ends out giving George Plimpton (a well known author at the time) an awkward escort for the first part (things such as having an odor, Plimpton having to pay for a restaurant check), and the second part focuses on the author having more awkward run-ins with Mr. Plimpton. At this point, the story shifts away from telling a story, but instead appears to be the author keeping a log of run ins. This keeps up until the last part, set in Baltimore, where an assistant to the author is chatting with Plimpton, and notes that the person he kept running into was the student who gave a sloppy escort. I found it interesting that the author uses both a journal and a story in this project, as it gives a background to the story, and also paces the story well. Overall, I found this piece to be well made and to communicate a good story.