Jeremy
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Jeremy Mayer (M, 38)
Tahoe City, US
Immortal since Dec 17, 2007
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I've been working with typewriters for the last 14 years. I disassemble them and then, without soldering, welding, or gluing, reassemble them into full-scale human figures. I draw a bit as well, and do a little graphic design.
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    Wed, Dec 31, 1969  Permanent link

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    alborz     Wed, Apr 9, 2008  Permanent link
    Do you think Bukowski would have used a typewriter if there was a computer around? He was going for volume. He would have loved to hole himself up with some speed and a MacBook.


    That's such a good point. No doubt there were typewriter nay-sayers in his day, romanticizing the fountain pen.

    I really loved this post and your work.
    sjef     Wed, Apr 9, 2008  Permanent link
    Dude your work is awesome. Great post.
    Sorano     Thu, Apr 10, 2008  Permanent link
    Inspiring scupltures.
    fishingpoet     Thu, Apr 10, 2008  Permanent link
    Your work is very, very cool...as are the rules you created for yourself. After-all, you can't grow, push, explore, create without first understanding parameter and limitation. In order to deconstruct, there's must be something constructed in the first place...

    I can see where those more concerned with the price an an old Underhill might command on Ebay than the inherent value of the story your work tells might raise your hackles, but why give writers the finger though?

    Your post defines your medium with historical perspective and nostalgia, if not for the object then the "countless workers" and "countless hours of trial and error and development..." You and your work embody an evolution in the engineering and artistry you see in those machines. If not for those countless hours (no to mention the inspired thought) spent engineering that time-saving device (and much further downstream, the macbook), we all might be relegated to quill or stone.

    The historical and artistic importance of the typewriter to the poet or novelist of today (and any desire to use one for the deliberation of a poem or story) can no more be held against them than the sculptor who wished to use primitive tools to hammer, chisel or carve their passion from stone or wood.

    True, Bukowski may very well have reveled in the chance to use a macbook, and his typewriter may have only been to him a means to publish his words, but I wonder if writers in 40+ years will even have the most remote clue of what a typewriter is? If they'll look at a macbook the same way that we're discussing typewriters (what interface will we evolve to next?).

    In the end, your work will be the connection, as will the writer who still holds on to the nostalgia...and the collector who simply values history.

    By the way, I have an old Underhill I got as a grad student in poetry. It belonged to an American officer in the Korean War. I've alway thought I'd put it to use eventually in my writing. I totally believe in the power and importance of passing on the story, in experience, in understanding your medium, in history...in the end everything informs our art. That said, I'd gladly donate it to your next work...without having typed a word on it. Again, I think your work is very, very cool.
    LED     Tue, Jun 17, 2008  Permanent link
    I love it!
    Self-Evolving     Sat, Jan 24, 2009  Permanent link
    In Bukowski's own words:

    A mechanical Lazarus

    I don’t know how long I’ve had this
    IBM Selectric typewriter: 12 years
    maybe: it’s typed thousands of poems,
    dozens of short stories, two or three
    novels and a screenplay.

    I’ve spilled beer, wine,
    whiskey, vodka, ale plus
    cigarette and cigar ash
    into it
    with never a breakdown.

    and I don’t know how many hours
    of classical music we’ve listened
    to together.

    The nights have always been
    long and good
    with always the promise of
    laughter behind our most
    serious
    moments.

    then I received a computer for
    Christmas.

    I mean, we must keep up with the
    times. no?

    after all, the old manual standard
    that preceded the electric typewriter
    now sits downstairs
    in dignified retirement

    and we too have shared many
    magical and crazy
    nights.

    I mean, men once wrote with
    quill pens.
    we must move on.

    so I cleared the desk off for the new
    computer.

    then I pulled the plug on the
    electric, covered it and
    carried it over to the corner
    of the room and set it
    down.

    That was the worst part–carrying it off
    like that.

    it was like it was something alive.

    I half expected it to speak,
    as it often had, in its own
    way.

    I felt as if I had turned a pet
    dog out into the cold
    street.

    then my daughter
    who is a computer whiz
    came over to set things up
    for me and to show me
    the basic techniques.

    she left and I began playing
    with the computer.
    it did some wonderful
    things
    but then I noticed certain
    inconsistencies.
    the machine wouldn’t do
    some of the things they claimed
    it would.

    my wife tried her hand at
    it.
    same thing.

    so we shut the machine down
    and went to
    sleep.

    the next day
    when I came home from the
    track
    my wife told me that the
    computer had a glitch or a
    possible
    virus.
    my daughter has worked on it
    all afternoon to
    no avail.

    so
    for the time
    being
    my old IBM has
    risen from the grave,
    the bottle of beer
    is to my left, and the little red
    radio to my right is
    playing
    Bach.

    my old
    electric warrior
    is back
    typing this now
    as the many parts of the
    computer are
    scattered across the
    rug.

    bravo!
    Mark Dow     Sun, Feb 22, 2009  Permanent link
    I've taken apart a few typewriters before, and have a deep appreciation for the mechanics involved in their design and construction, and as a human-machine interface. Seeing them put them back together in this way is very satisfying.
     
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