At the typewriter you find out who you are.
July 22, 2024 9:40 AM Subscribe
YouTube User Lyn Johansen on her channel, "This Typewriter is Broken," takes us through her typewriter collection and discusses the authors who used the same model.
Videos about twenty minutes long
A small selection:
Ray Bradbury Wheelwriter
Erika Cyrillic Akhmatova Brodsky
Underwood 319 and ee cummings
Videos about twenty minutes long
A small selection:
Ray Bradbury Wheelwriter
Erika Cyrillic Akhmatova Brodsky
Underwood 319 and ee cummings
I have a Triumph Gabriele-E, a somewhat fewer-fetured version of the Triumph Perfekt that Lyn talks about in this video. It's a beautiful machine (after a cleaning and adjusting by a friend who is an expert -- adjust your typers!) to use and to write with.
I use it to journal and to make occasional lists. It offers few distractions, apart from periodically cleaning the type, and the feeling of mechanical accomplishment of causing a metal type arm to swing the slug to impact the paper. It's an important part of my mental health routine.
You don't need a fancy typewriter for that, there are plenty of cheap and high quality models available in many places. Don't look to Etsy for good deals.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 1:02 PM on July 22 [2 favorites]
I use it to journal and to make occasional lists. It offers few distractions, apart from periodically cleaning the type, and the feeling of mechanical accomplishment of causing a metal type arm to swing the slug to impact the paper. It's an important part of my mental health routine.
You don't need a fancy typewriter for that, there are plenty of cheap and high quality models available in many places. Don't look to Etsy for good deals.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 1:02 PM on July 22 [2 favorites]
Oh goodness, these videos are so lovely, I could watch them forever.
(Though my pedantic soul forces me to mention that E. E. Cummings never spelled his name with small e’s and a small c, that’s something which later publishers decided to do)
I taught myself how to write creatively on a typewriter, and there is something about the machine’s limitations which forces you to think through what you say, which served me well in writing. It’s also such a fun tool to play with, language is so tactile when you’re banging out ink characters on paper.
posted by Kattullus at 3:55 PM on July 22 [1 favorite]
(Though my pedantic soul forces me to mention that E. E. Cummings never spelled his name with small e’s and a small c, that’s something which later publishers decided to do)
I taught myself how to write creatively on a typewriter, and there is something about the machine’s limitations which forces you to think through what you say, which served me well in writing. It’s also such a fun tool to play with, language is so tactile when you’re banging out ink characters on paper.
posted by Kattullus at 3:55 PM on July 22 [1 favorite]
Typewriter fans, here's a book for you: Uncommon Type: Some Stories, a collection of short stories by Tom Hanks, with typewriters as a unifying theme throughout.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:04 AM on July 23
posted by evilmomlady at 4:04 AM on July 23
I suppose I understand the attraction of typewriters as a hobby, but I'm glad I don't have to fight a typewriter anymore. Back before desktop computers, I took a high school typing class to get ready for the papers I would have to type in college, and I literally cut and pasted to edit the high school newspaper. School got us ready for an obsolete world.
posted by pracowity at 5:11 AM on July 24
posted by pracowity at 5:11 AM on July 24
« Older "To be real, much of the internet assumes, is to... | A Couple of Woodworking Layout Tools Newer »
posted by misteraitch at 11:52 AM on July 22 [1 favorite]