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The story of my typewriter, Paul Auster, Sam Messer, D.A.P., 2002, 1891024329, 9781891024320, 63 pages. 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. 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Paul Auster (b. 1947) is one of the most critically acclaimed and intensely studied authors in America today. His varied career as a novelist, poet, translator, and filmmaker .... A Paul Auster sourcebook , Carsten Springer, 2001, Fiction, 110 pages. 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. 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." If you're a typewriter fetishist or Paul Auster devotee, this book is definitely worth it. I am a bit of both, so the book is quite an endearing eyecandy for me. This slim volume is really the work of Sam Messer, an artist who became enamored with Auster's Olympia portable (I think SM 8 or 9) and decided to paint it everytime he visited. The paintings are quite good, as a matter of fact. Auster provides a quick, anecdotal history of his typewriter, and if you are a writer, you will empathize how he or anyone can grow so enamored with a writing tool. I was really looking forward to this book. And, I have to admit it was not quite what I was expecting. I truly enjoyed the paintings and reading about Paul Auster and his strange and interesting typewriter. But, I expected more in the way of reading. I took the book to the gym, expecting a nice long read. Sadly, I was finished with the book before I even broke a sweat, and that was a dissapointment. The writer is such a creative and imaginative storyteller, full of surprises. I wanted him to reveal more, to tell more and weave this story into something I could really sink my teeth into. But, the real star of this book is Sam Messer and his wonderful paintings. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if it were presented like a *big* art book, with large pictures, and plenty more of 'em. Really, I shouldn't complain. Ihe book is super cool, and definately worth the small amount of money I parted with to enjoy its company. If you are a typewriter fetishist or a Paul Auster devotee, then you will find a justification for buying this book. That said, I must say that the book is a bit too thin, both in volume and content, to justify a purchase for most people. This book is mostly about Sam Messer, an artist friend of Auster, who became infatuated with Auster's Olympia portable typewriter (those who are curious about the specific model name/number, it looks to be a SM 9). Over the period of twenty years or so, he painted the typewriter. The paintings are intimate and beautifully done; the best ones feature Auster in the composition. These are perhaps the loveliest depictions of a typewriter you'll find out there, and if you are a typewriter aficionado, you will love this book. Paul Auster provides a perfunctory anecdotal history of his typewriter, and at reaching the end of the book, I empathized with him (and many other writers like him) who attach illogical but mysterious significance to a writing instrument. The book is handsome, and a breezy read; you can read the whole thing in fifteen minutes - perfect for your houseguests. The Story of My Typewriter is a little book, by Paul Auster, mostly with pictures by the painter Sam Messer about the author's old Olympia typewriter. Auster bought the typewriter in 1972 from an old college friend who had owned it since 1962. Allegedly everything Auster has written since has been typed on it. afternoon American Art Angeles Art Gallery artist Auster and Siri Auster's Olympia Award Berthold Bodoni Antiqua Boston Broke bronze Brooklyn California China City collaboration Collection of Paul Courtesy of Nielsen daughter everything friends gone Gotham Olympia Grommon Hartford inanimate object Invention of Solitude Josephine Messer keys Last Thing Lauderdale Letter LIBRARIES STANFORD lion look machine manual Metropolitan Museum Mickey Cartin Moon Palace Museum of American Museum of Art Music of Chance never Nielsen Gallery novels obsession oil on canvas oil on linen oil on panel Olympia detail Olympia typewriter paintings Paul Auster pencil on paper Poetry Portrait Private Collection push ribbons Santa Monica School Screenplays Sculpture Selected Poems Serif Shoshana Wayne Gallery Silent Siri Hustvedt Smoke STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES Story strokes told turned an inanimate Twentieth-Century unsettling want to thank Whitney Museum wife Write wrong button Yale University York Trilogy Paul Auster was born on February 3, 1947, in Newark, New Jersey.