• The Iron Whim: Recuperative Reading


    A very good friend gifted me this afternoon with a little something to read while I recover from knee surgery this weekend. Because it's likely I'll be ridiculous from pain meds, I've already peeked a bit inside The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriters by Darren Wershler-Henry.

    I promised myself I'd only read the first chapter or so and save the rest for later, but so much for that. How could I help it? The intro is a haunted machine and hashish-motivated writing jag. Chapter 1 is the infamous Royal Road Test. I finally put the thing down after Chapter 2's nostalgia as religion - pages dedicated to those crazy folks who haunt Ebay (can you imagine?) to snag a bit of mechanical history.

    I'm stopping right here. I swear. Not another page until after Friday's surgery.

    Thanks, Steph!

    6 comments → The Iron Whim: Recuperative Reading

    1. I will be curious to see what you think of this- I read it last year. In short, I thought its style was overly academic and it read like a padded dissertation. You have a more educated perspective on that theory, so I look forward to your review.

    2. There's no doubt this is a padded dis, but I've read so much composition and feminist theory in the last month that it seems like a breath of fresh air.

      Don't get me started on the inaccessibility of academic language. I'll bore you to tears.

      Typewriters aside, if you want to see how it *should* be done (writing and feminist theory in tandem) read Ursula Le Guin's pieces from the mid-eighties. I suggest her Bryn Mawr commencement address.

      Enough of that. Back to typewriters.

    3. This book has been parked on my Amazon wish list for ages. Probably about time I got around to it, eh? (Oops, there's my proximity to the Canadian border slipping through.)

      Good luck on your knee surgery. We expect lots of Oxycontin-induced rambling blog posts in the days following.

    4. Oh, Olivander. you can SO count on rambling blog posts here. I plan to write nothing but pain-med-induced prose poetry.

    5. Olivander, I would happily send you my copy. Would you like it?

    6. Here's wishing you as pleasant a recovery as possible. That's the spirit- time to read.
      Nice new look to your blog! Way to go!

      PS- remember, writing in pencil works fine in all reclined postures of repose!

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