Typewriters of the Times: Ozick, Abernethy, hacking

As usual, this Sunday's New York Times is sprinkled with typewriters. 

An obituary for NBC and PBS journalist Bob Abernethy shows him with his Underwood.

A review of 93-year-old writer Cynthia Ozick's latest novel includes this bit:

But the main thing that made me think of typewriters—not as tools of old and bygone writers, but as necessary equipment for the 21st century—was this front-page story.

It's just the latest reminder of how digital equipment is vulnerable to prying, hostile incursions—in a way that typewriters are not.

Typewriters of the Times: Brian Sonia-Wallace and William Stevenson

Today's New York Times Book Review section is more typewriterly than usual.



The theme seems to have been inspired by this strong review of Brian Sonia-Wallace's The Poetry of Strangers by Michael Hainey. Congratulations, Brian! (Here's my review.)



Another big spread features foreign correspondent William Stevenson and his Lettera 22.

Typewriters of the Times: robot meets typewriter

As always, the New York Times continues to remind its readers of the symbolic power of typewriters. This Sunday's contribution comes from cartoonist Tom Gauld.




PS: Can robots really write? Some reflections here.

Typewriters of the Times: Maxine Kumin's Hermes

Today's New York Times contains some of the worst, most depressing news I have seen in a depressing year. But an effective way to avoid grim reality is to focus on our tiny areas of expertise and idiosyncratic preferences. Hence ...

Here's a photo of onetime U.S. poet laureate Maxine Kumin at her Hermes 10.



The model 10 is essentially an electrified version of the legendary Hermes 3000.

(By the way, Lorraine Hansberry was pictured recently in The New Yorker with her imposing early IBM. Check out Robert Messenger's post for a whole series of interesting photos of the writer and her writing machine.)

The same issue also includes a rave review of Samanta Schweblin's novel Little Eyes. This is the novel that I reviewed last summer under its Spanish title, Kentukis. I highly recommend it as a creative and insightful exploration of technology and psychology. Here is an interview with Schweblin.

Typewriters of the Times: Salinger edition

Every Sunday, the New York Times seems to include at least one reference to typewriters, or an illustration of one. In today's Book Review, Ali Fitzgerald suggests that social distancing may be making some of us behave like J. D. Salinger.



That typewriter in the drawing gives me a Remington KMC or Super-Riter feeling, even though I'm sure it's not modeled on a particular machine.

Typewriters of the Times: Ides of March edition

You-know-what is on all of our minds right now, but not on this blog, not today.

Instead, I present a roundup of the latest typewriter references in today's New York Times. We get it in print on Sunday—a treat that invites several hours of lazing in bed. And almost every Sunday, I run across multiple references to typewriters. Is this because the average Times reader, like me, is college-educated and well into middle age? Or is it just because typewriters are wonderful?

Anyway, here are today's tidbits.

A review of Teddy Wayne's novel Apartment, about two roommates who are aspiring writers in the '90s, includes this illustration by Klaus Kremmerz:



A review of Elizabeth Tallent's Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism includes this lovely quote:



The machine was "a hunky olive-green electric typewriter." Maybe a Selectric? Maybe something more exotic, like my Olivetti Editor 2?



Anyway, congratulations to the talented Ms. Tallent.




Finally, this photo from a story on the massive Alaskan earthquake of 1964 reminds us that, in times of crisis, we can band together to save the most important things. (Can anyone identify that typewriter? And, OK, you-know-what is on my mind.)

The Typewriter Revolution in The New York Times

I was quoted, with mention of my forthcoming book, in Friday's New York Times. 

Thanks to Steve Soboroff, who's also featured in this story, for sending me these shots of the printed edition. The online story is here.

Some facts that you wouldn't know from the story:

1. The typewriter pictured, which I recently added to my collection, is a mystery. It's a prototype portable whose inventor is unknown to me. I'll be writing about it for the fall issue of ETCetera.

2. I was slightly misquoted: instead of saying “ultimately writing about them,” I said “ultimately writing on them.” Let’s not forget they are writing machines!