The Story of My Typewriter - Hardcover

9781891024320: The Story of My Typewriter
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
This is the story of Paul Auster's typewriter. The typewriter is a manual Olympia, more than 25 years old, and has been the agent of transmission for the novels, stories, collaborations, and other writings Auster has produced since the 1970s, a body of work that stands as one of the most varied, creative, and critcally acclaimed in recent American letters. It is also the story of a relationship. A relationship between Auster, his typewriter, and the artist Sam Messer, who, as Auster writes, "has turned an inanimate object into a being with a personality and a presence in the world." This is also a collaboration: Auster's story of his typewriter, and of Messer's welcome, though somewhat unsettling, intervention into that story, illustrated with Messer's muscular, obsessive drawings and paintings of both author and machine. This is, finally, a beautiful object; one that will be irresistible to lovers of Auster's writing, Messer's painting, and fine books in general.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
Paul Auster is the author of many novels, among them "Leviathan, Moon Palace, Mr. Vertigo," and "Timbuktu". He has also written a memoir, "Invention of Solitude", and translated several books from French. His most recent collaboration with an artist was his project with Sophie Calle, entitled "Double Game". He lives in Brooklyn.
From Publishers Weekly:
Aspiring writers are often fascinated by the processes and the tools of the professional; in this elegant art book collaboration between writer Auster and painter Messer, they can get a detailed, expressionistic perspective on the old-fashioned machine Auster uses to get the words out of his head and onto the page: a vintage manual Olympia typewriter. "Since... 1974, every word I have written has been typed out on that machine," writes Auster in the essay that accompanies the drawings and paintings reproduced in this lovely volume. Though very short, the text is revealing of the author's unique sensibility: "Like it or not, I realized we [Auster and the Olympia] had the same past. As time went on, I came to understand we had the same future." The starring attraction here is the art. Primarily done in oils, the works reveal Messer's obsession with Auster's typewriter. Most of the depictions are head-on, sometimes with backgrounds that reflect the writer and his New York milieu. One version is backed by a shelf of Auster's works, another by the Brooklyn Bridge, and one haunting image shows the lower Manhattan skyline as seen from Brooklyn, with the still-standing towers of the World Trade Center prominently featured. The novelist himself is portrayed in several works, the best of which (Maestro) shows Auster conjuring the keys off of the machine and into a swirl of floating letters. This is an undeniably odd but captivating book, in which Messer, in Auster's words, turns "an inanimate object into a being with personality and a presence in the world."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Auster, Paul
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
LibraryMercantile
(Humble, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # newMercantile_1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 103.18
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 101.96
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 102.84
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 102.71
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 104.76
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul; Messer, Sam
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.93. Seller Inventory # Q-1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 111.21
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul, Messer, Sam
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks474800

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 140.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Auster, Paul, Messer, Sam
ISBN 10: 1891024329 ISBN 13: 9781891024320
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB1891024329

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 173.31
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds