The Story of My Typewriter

by Paul Auster, Sam Messer (Illustrator)

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, American, Literature, Essays, Art, Biography

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Bloodbath Nation, Baumgartner, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. Among his other honors are the Prix Médicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, and the Premio Napoli for Sunset Park. In 2012, he was the first recipient of the NYC Literary Honors in the category of fiction. He was also a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (The Book of Illusions), the PEN/Faulkner Award (The Music of Chance), the Edgar Award (City of Glass), and the Man Booker Prize (4 3 2 1). Auster was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He died at age seventy-seven in 2024.

Reviews

[Jakob J. 🎃 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am predisposed to absorption in romantic rhapsodizing of the artistic endeavor, the processes by which we come to consume the fruits of creative pursuits, and the tools (or instruments) that come to almost metaphysically manifest as characters in the story of producing characters and stories.

Auster’s Olympia typewriter was his muse, never to be replaced. Content to be deemed a curmudgeon, a Luddite, a prosaic and precious relic, he lugged his clacking word spitter around with him everywhere, insisting that all his work sprung from its carriage. He has since died, survived by his source of literary salvation, no doubt. I can’t help but wonder what became of it.

As much an art book as personal essay, several sketches and paintings of this particular machine graced these pages by Auster’s friend, Sam Messer, whom more enamored with Olympia than its/his owner may have been. Some portraits of Auster; some of Olympia in various states of fear, rage, and joy; some of Auster in suffused motion with Olympia; and some, I am convinced, splotchy self-portraits as represented by the eponymous Typewriter; an object transcending inanimate status in dual minds of inspired vigor.

[Georgia Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two men. One paints. The other writes. The object of their devotion? A machine. Paul Auster provides the words. Sam Messer, the portraits.

A short, strange, book which made me feel less weird for the pleasure I get from my 1947 Royal even when it is shut.

Always waiting, always ready, he never needs warming up.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

P. 32 - "Sam [o ilustrador do livro] apossou-se da minha máquina de escrever e, a pouco e pouco, transformou um objecto inanimado num ser com uma personalidade e uma presença no mundo. A máquina de escrever, agora, tem desejos e estados de espírito e exprime sombrias raivas e exuberantes alegrias e quase juraríamos que se ouve o bater de um coração, preso no seu corpo metálico e cinzento."

De uma forma pouco profunda, Paul Auster faz um elogio/ tributo à sua máquina de escrever, objecto que o acompanha há cerca de 40 anos, numa relação de proximidade entre o escritor e o seu "objecto mecânico" de escrita.

[Ema · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

Um pequeno livro sobre a máquina de escrever de Paul Auster, maravilhosamente trazida à vida por Sam Messer. Sente-se o valor emocional pela companheira de trabalho de anos e a presença mística que só a arte consegue conferir a objectos inanimados. A máquina tornou-se obsoleta, Paul Auster já não está entre nós, mas este livro crava-os na nossa memória como se fossem eternos.

[Mariota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como siempre, Paul Auster no decepciona.
Este libro es un homenaje a su máquina de escribir que lleva con él desde los años 70. Se la compró a un amigo por 40 dólares.
Este es un libro ilustrado. Sam Messer, no lo conocía, es un ilustrador amigo de Paul Auster que sintió una conexión con la máquina de escribir de Paul Auster y la dibujó. Me encantan los dibujos que hace de la máquina. La humaniza con sus expresiones: parece enfadada, contenta, con los dientes - teclas desordenados...
Me ha parecido un buen trabajo conjunto. Recomendable. No se tarda nada en leerlo.

[Matias Vigano · Rating 4 out of 5]

No es un cuento como yo creía, es más bien una crónica que en muy pocas palabras nos habla de como se relaciona Paul Auster con su objeto máquina. ¿Tiene belleza? Sí, obvio porque está escrito por él, pero no aporta absolutamente nada más que una anécdota bien contada. El sentido del libro está en las ilustraciones, funciona como mino libro objeto. Ahí, en las pinturas, está el verdadero valor y es eso lo que aprecio (más allá de la historia y lo bien escrito).

[Cristina | Books, less beer & a baby Gaspar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Uma história de amor que passa décadas e não sucumbe à tecnologia, muito bonita entre Paul Auster e a sua máquina de escrever. As pinturas de Sam Messer complementam e enriquecem a pequena história.

[BabuBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindas pinturas y linda recopilación acerca de la relación del autor con su máquina de escribir.

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

ayer caminando por mar de las pampas, me encontré este libro en una mesita de ofertas de una librería.
fiel creyente que en esas mesitas siempre se encuentran muy buenas lecturas.
esta fue maravillosa, porque me hizo recordar y reafirmar todo el amor que le tengo a los libros.

[msoolmiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compré este libro hace unas horas porque lo quiero leer hace 5 años y nunca me animé a comprarlo. Hoy dije: quiero una lectura corta, llegó el momento.
Es literalmente Paul Auster contando la historia de su máquina de escribir; de cómo llegó a él y de cómo lo acompaña a lo largo de su vida.
Me gustó mucho. A pesar de ser una lectura muy simple, se nota el cariño del autor a su máquina y lo transmite, a demás de que está lleno de ilustraciones y pinturas (de él y de su máquina Olympus) de Sam Messer.
Me encantó 💖

[Joana Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Auster conta a história da sua máquina de escrever em meia dúzia de páginas que se lêem num dia, mas o que é realmente incrível neste livro são as ilustrações lindíssimas de Sam Messer... <3

[Jack Rousseau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Paul Auster's typewriter, as the reader may have guessed from the title. Beginning with Auster's acquisition and ending with Messer's introduction to said typewriter.

Three and a half years later, I came home to America. It was July 1974, and when I unpacked my bags that first afternoon in New York, I discovered that my little Hermes typewriter had been destroyed. The cover was smashed in, the keys were mangled and twisted out of shape, and there was no hope of ever having it repaired.
I couldn't afford to buy a new typewriter. I rarely had much money in those days, bu at that particular moment I was dead broke.
A couple of nights later, an old college friend invited me to his apartment for dinner. At some point during out conversation, I mentioned what had happened to my typewriter, and he told me that he had one in the closet that he didn't use anymore. It had been given to him as a graduation present from junior high school in 1962. If I wanted to buy it from him, he said, he would be glad to sell it to me.

The typewriter's backstory is given in remarkable detail. Of course the story, the typewriter, and the artwork is most likely to appeal to lovers of typewriters, whether it's out of nostalgia or Luddite inclinations. Auster professes his aversion to technology, with which I can relate and sympathize...

There is no point talking about computers and word processors. Early on, I was temped to buy one of those marvels for myself, but too many friends told me horror stories about pushing the wrong button and wiping out a day's work - or a month's work - and I heard one too many warnings about sudden power failures that could erase an entire manuscript in less than half a second. I have never been good with machines, and I knew that if there was a wrong button to be pushed, I would eventually push it.
So I held on to my old typewriter, and the 1980s became the 1990s. One by one, all my friends switched over to Macs and IBMs. I began to look like an enemy of progress, the last pagan holdout in a world of digital converts. My friends made fun of me for resisting the new ways. When they weren't called me a curmudgeon, they called me a reactionary and a stubborn old goat. I didn't care. What was good for them wasn't necessarily good for me, I said. Why should i change when I was perfectly happy as I was?

Sam Messer's introduction to Auster's typewriter seems to be the pretense for the piece, with Auster's prose providing context for the artwork. The typewriter and its backstory, Auster explains, inspired the artwork.

It was never my intention to turn my typewriter into a heroic figure. That is the work of Sam Messer, a man who stepped into my house one day and fell in love with a machine....

Auster doesn't venture to explain what it is about the typewriter that inspired Messer, instead concluding: "There is no accounting for the passions of artists."

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un pequeño texto de Paul Auster, en donde nos narra como su máquina de escribir lo acompaña a lo largo de su vida como escritor, y que a pesar de que el mundo avanza a pasos gigantes, el es capaz de mantener con vida a esta compañera. Con el paso del tiempo a sufrido algunos daños, pero Paul se dedica a mantenerla aún vigente.
Muchas veces estas pequeñas cosas, que pueden ser vista como viejas o fuera de línea, son capaces de darnos alegrías y glorias. En conjunto con la historia las ilustraciones de Sam Messer le dan ese toque especial que en sí ya tiene esta Olympia, volviéndola una máquina mágica, envolvente y especial.-

[Vampire Who Baked · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful little book about two men's-- one a writer, the other an artist-- love affair with a quaint little mechanical keyboard-- basically what the toddlers' "picture book" genre would look like if it were written for adults. You can finish it within half an hour, preferably with some tea sitting by the window watching a train pass by.

[Artemis · Rating 3 out of 5]

quiero una máquina de escribir t_t

[María José · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué belleza! quiero mi máquina de escribir

[Eloy Nogueira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Auster es un autor que me encanta y deseo leerme todo lo que ha escrito. Así es cómo descubrí este ensayo. Me ha gustado, aunque el texto es muy breve y te lo lees en 10 minutos, son más las páginas con las ilustraciones. Hubiera preferido un texto más largo, de al menos 100 páginas, pero bueno, leer a Paul Auster siempre es bien.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but solid insight into Auster’s writing. This is both an autobiography and a tribute. Warm, imbued with friendship and enthusiasm, it is stunning in its simplicity. Auster’s words sit with Messer’s art, and together they deliver meaning.

[M. Sarki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing great, cute mostly, but not really needed in the entire scope of things. Yes, Auster loves his typewriter and is devoted to it. Yes, the painter/artist loves to fashion whatever it is about the machine that continues obviously to fascinate him to obsessive degrees. But it is all rather wasted on me at least because I really do not care. And it isn't my fault because I truly am a caring, feeling, empathetic, and understanding human being no matter what you say.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auster's little meditation on my favourite subject (I own 4 typewriters) make me want to read his poem book that I acquired years ago. Messer's paintings and drawings make me feel like stalking him to be my new teacher, anyone who can fall in love with a typewriter and paint it over and over and over again could very well be my hero.

[Dokusha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dieses sehr kurze Buch (die wenigen Seiten enthalten viele freie Stellen und Zeichnungen) ist eine Art Liebesbrief des Autors an seine Schreibmaschine, die ercseit 26 Jahren benutzt - sein einziger Gegenstand, der die ganze, Zeit über nicht ausgetauscht wurde.
Es ist eine nette Geschichte, aber halt nicht mehr. Und der Satz oben beschreibt auch schon weitgehend den Inhalt.

[Brian]

A lovely tribute to the author's Olympia SM9, which happens to be my typewriter. I visited my typewriter today and it looks well, all things considered.

[Rute Paulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belíssimo...

[inês · Rating 2 out of 5]

nothing great really, i was rathet confused by it bc i dont get the point of this book

[Cláudia Guedes da Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A História da Minha Máquina de Escrever", publicada originalmente em 2002, é um tributo à máquina de escrever Olympia de Auster, uma companheira fiel do autor ao longo de muitos anos de criação literária.

Mas esta obra não é apenas uma ode nostálgica a uma máquina de escrever, ela é também, um exemplo brilhante de colaboração artística. Paul Auster e Sam Messer criam juntos uma experiência que testemunha a intersecção entre a literatura e as artes visuais, demonstrando como duas formas de arte podem combinar-se para contar uma história que cativa, tanto os amantes de literatura, como os apreciadores de arte.

Paul Auster narra, com o seu estilo inconfundível, a história e a importância sentimental que esta máquina de escrever tem na sua vida. Desde a aquisição acidental da Olympia até ao seu papel central na produção dos seus trabalhos, Auster tece uma narrativa íntima e nostálgica que reflete sobre a relação entre o escritor e a sua ferramenta de trabalho. A máquina de escrever é personificada, com uma presença marcante e um papel crucial no processo criativo de Auster.

Sam Messer, por sua vez, contribui com uma série de pinturas que capturam a essência e a aura da Olympia. As suas ilustrações não são meramente representações visuais da máquina, mas sim interpretações artísticas que dão vida à narrativa de Auster. As pinturas de Messer são expressivas e evocativas, acrescentando uma dimensão visual que, na minha simples opinião de leitora, complementa perfeitamente o texto.

[Benja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Paul Auster and his typewriter, a 1962 Olympia from West Germany on which he supposedly typed everything he ever did write since 1974. The machine unwittingly became a symbol of resistance against the surge of Macs and IBMs in the 80s and 90s; later the painter Paul Messer became obsessed with it and further anthropomorphized it, making it the subject of several creepy paintings that furnish this weird book.

This is the kind of cute and quaint biographical rumination Murakami usually hocks. You get the feeling it could easily veer into horror or allegory but the author is too pleased and unbothered to go down that route. He's just happy to write on his typewriter.

[The Black Geek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story for writers and lovers of art that depict one of the 19th and 20th century tools of writers everywhere. I have always appreciated the typewriter for its ability to help one realize the physical effort it takes to produce one word, one sentence, one paragraph. Messer's vibrant images coupled with Auster's storytelling is nothing short of brilliant.

If you have never seen or used a typewriter, this book may peak your curiosity and motivate you to experience it at least once in this lifetime. Secretly, it has been my desire to own an Underwood or red Royal typewriter...

[Carlos G. Rapalino Gutiérrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

En esta ocasión, Auster nos cuenta de manera algo íntima, su historia y relación con su antiquísima máquina de escribir Olympia. Al momento de publicado el libro, ya son casi 25 años que lleva en su compañía, lo cual la transforma casi en una personalidad con sentimientos y estados de ánimo, como bien lo plasma su amigo Sam Messer en sus ilustraciones.

Una lectura corta y amena, como todo lo proveniente de Auster, y que enriquece lo conocido de la persona detrás del autor de La Trilogía de Nueva York.

[Maria Azpiroz · Rating 5 out of 5]

El libro tiene menos de 60 páginas y su lectura me llevó literalmente 15 minutos. Sin embargo, tiene el raro mérito de la belleza condensada. Las ilustraciones son de un amigo de Auster , Sam Messer, pintor que yo desconocía totalmente. Las ilustraciones son bellísimas y la edición es en unas hojas satinadas que permiten su reproducción con todo el brillo. Hay libros que son interesantes, profundos, entretenidos, difíciles. Este es bonito y no en modo trivial, sino esencial.

[Caro Rizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Me di cuenta de que, me gustara o no,teníamos el mismo pasado. Y con el paso del tiempo, llegué a comprender que también teníamos el mismo futuro." Paul Auster narra en este breve relato el vínculo con su Olympia, la máquina de escribir que lo acompañó por más de 30 años en su profesión. Las hermosas ilustraciones de Sam Messer lograron darle vida a este objeto, de manera que para Paul "sin prisa pero sin pausa, ESO se ha convertido en ELLA."