West: The Typewriter Dorothy

There is an intimacy in the way a writer interacts with a typewriter that modern technology has since lost. The ribbon striking the paper leaves a physical impression; the errors are visible, the corrections are palpable. West’s typewriter bore witness to the evolution of her voice. It saw her transition from the young, ambitious girl who won prizes for her short stories to the elder stateswoman of American letters.

For a few hours each night, the clacking of the keys transforms his cramped apartment into a corporate office, and he becomes the successful man he always dreamed of being. However, the fantasy shatters when Millie finds a job and returns the rented typewriter. Deprived of his only escape, the man suffers a literal and metaphorical broken heart, dying as his imaginary world—and J. Lucius Jones—crashes around him. The Real-Life Connection the typewriter dorothy west