Typewriter Play

Post-Script: There's a lot more to say here about typewriter playing. They are indeed mechanical devices, which for many of us is an immediate inducement for further exploration. A lot of the magic of play comes from the power of words. Words fashioned into sentences have the power to fuel our imagination, through the power of language. Entire imaginary worlds can come into existence through language.

Typewriters are also vintage devices. They are foreign to our common experience, unless you're like me, with various machines sitting around the house just as much for decor as useful writing tools. As newcomers to typewriters, our's is a generation that has to rediscover their magic, their utility, their limitations. In previous generations they were treated pretty much as pragmatic tools for one dedicated purpose - document creation. But that purpose has, by and large, passed them by, supplanted in large measure by word processing. And so these wonderful machines find new usefulness in ways not dreamt of by previous generations. Like street poetry writing, or blogging, or even percussive music. Thus, through play we can find new things to do with these mechanical marvels.

In this recent video I also touched on the importance of copying. Not just for retyping the works of others for practice and inspiration, but as an aid in learning how language is crafted by masters of the art. Austin Kleon has much to say about this, through his wonderful book Steal Like an Artist, and also his blog. Be sure to check out both.

Here's the recent video I made about typewriter play:



Typecast on yellow tracing paper via Royal QDL (a.k.a Adobe Rose)

On Re-Typing

Post-Script: I'm not certain the analogy is perfectly apt, but I see re-typing as similar to noodling on a guitar using sheet music of some popular song; a cover-tune, attempting to walk in someone's footsteps, not for the purpose of simulation; more like emulation, honoring their art and craft in the knowing that, in the case of authors from the mid-20th century, they too most likely were perched in front of some similar typing iron, fingers banging away on keys. You get a sense of the work that went into the final piece. I certainly felt that as I typed this favorite excerpt of mine from Kerouac's On the Road, wherein you can almost hear the music and smell the aroma of the smoke-filled nightclubs.

"Here were the children of the American bop night." What a wonderful turn of phrase.

Photo via Lumix GH3, typecast via Underwood Universal.