Book-Casting, Part 1

Post-Script: I've wanted to do this for some time, excerpt some of my favorite passages from my favorite books, retyping them onto a manual typewriter, as if it were somehow possible (or permissible) to revisit the experience of what it must have been like for their respective authors to have held in their hands their finished manuscripts. The experience of sharing some of one's favorite writings with a wider audience is important, I think, to developing a deeper culture within the Typosphere. Certainly this week was rich with good material from Richard Polt, Fossils Without Fear, and Typecast. I certainly feel that the importance of typecasting has to go beyond mere typing about typewriters, that these machines still have some life left in them for the composing of truly creative works. Or, in the case of this posting, typing excerpts from the creative works of others. I've not made any conscious effort to retain historical accuracy regarding the type of machine each respective author might have used in drafting their manuscripts. In the case of Kerouac there are references to both a 1930s Underwood (at the Kerouac museum) and a Hermes 3000 (at auction at Christie's); most likely he used a number of machines throughout his career. Meanwhile Searcy may have likely used a word processor, being as how his novel was published in 2002. I'll probably continue to do this in the future, excerpting passages from my personal library to share with you.