Even before I wrote a book that is supposed to have been written on one, I have always been a fan of the typewriter. Long ago I had a small collection that my mother donated to the local Nurse's Association Thrift Store once I moved out. I didn't freak out. I just went and bought more.
It's the sexy little "portable" ones of which I am especially fond. What people once thought of as portable in this age of iphones, and microchips, and GPS and what have you, redeems my faith in humanity. As I'm sure you are aware, when the Rapture comes, eyeglasses with become currency and those with typewriters will be the ones who will repopulate the world.
And so now there's all this chatter about the "hipster"and their "love" of "typewriters." There's stalls of them at the Brooklyn Flea. On Etsy, you can buy necklaces, cufflinks, and elaborate brooches made from typewriter keys and precious decoupaged and silkscreened art pieces with Olivettis and Smith Coronas.
This NY Times article is amazing and, for the record, I have never paid more that $20 for a typewriter.
Nothing says I am hyper literate like a typewriter fetish. So yes. I am (re)amassing a fine collection. I have about 4 in storage in New Jersey. I have a recurring and often seemingly urgent fantasy of getting industrial shelving from Ikea and arranging them, MOMA like, above my writing space- where I am sure they would plummet from the wall and bash my brains all over my computer.
Flavorwire had this piece up with capital W Writers and Their Typewriters- kinda like Major League Sluggers and Their Bats, or, Notorious Gangsters and Their Tommy Guns. But it still turned me on. The iconic pic of Sylvia Plath is there and- to my great delight!- Francoise Sagan upon whom I shall lavish more attention later. And that dashing scoundrel angel Langston Hughes. Enjoy!
Flavorwire » Famous Authors And Their Typewriters
