
The Typewriter Century
A Cultural History of Writing Practices
Martyn Lyons(Author)
University of Toronto Press
Published on 16. February 2021
Book
Hardback
276 pages
978-1-4875-0824-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book captures the intensity of the relationship between writers and their typewriters from the 1880s, when the machine was first commercialized, to the 1980s, when word-processing superseded it. Drawing on examples from the United States, Britain, Europe, and Australia, The Typewriter Century focuses on "celebrity writers," including Henry James, Jack Kerouac, Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, and Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote prolifically and mechanically, developing routines in which typing, handwriting, and dictation were each allotted important functions.
The typewriter de-personalized the text; the office typewriter bureaucratized it. At the same time, some authors found a new and disturbing distance between themselves and their compositions while others believed the typewriter facilitated spontaneous and automatic typing. The Typewriter Century provides a cultural history of the typewriter, outlining the ways in which it can be considered an agent of change as well as demonstrating how it influenced all writers, canonical and otherwise.
The typewriter de-personalized the text; the office typewriter bureaucratized it. At the same time, some authors found a new and disturbing distance between themselves and their compositions while others believed the typewriter facilitated spontaneous and automatic typing. The Typewriter Century provides a cultural history of the typewriter, outlining the ways in which it can be considered an agent of change as well as demonstrating how it influenced all writers, canonical and otherwise.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
480 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4875-0824-1 (9781487508241)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Martyn Lyons is an emeritus professor of History & European Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Content
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: The Typewriter as an Agent of Change?
2. The Birth of the Typosphere
3. Modernity and the Typewriter Girl
4. The Modernist Typewriter
5. The Distancing Effect: The Hand, the Eye, the Voice
6. The Romantic Typewriter
7. Manuscript and Typescript
8. Georges Simenon: The Man in the Glass Cage
9. Erle Stanley Gardner: The Fiction Factory
10. Domesticating the Typewriter
11. The End of the Typewriter Century and Post-Digital Nostalgia
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: The Typewriter as an Agent of Change?
2. The Birth of the Typosphere
3. Modernity and the Typewriter Girl
4. The Modernist Typewriter
5. The Distancing Effect: The Hand, the Eye, the Voice
6. The Romantic Typewriter
7. Manuscript and Typescript
8. Georges Simenon: The Man in the Glass Cage
9. Erle Stanley Gardner: The Fiction Factory
10. Domesticating the Typewriter
11. The End of the Typewriter Century and Post-Digital Nostalgia
Bibliography
Index