Post by Omar Rizwan (@omar@social.omar.website)

Omar Rizwan @omar

In a cursive script, the line, as it unravels upon the page, issues directly from this
gestural movement, with all the care, feeling and devotion that goes into it. I
compare it to practising my cello. When I practise — which I do as often as I can —
the sound pours out from the contact between bow and strings. In just the same
way, handwriting flows from the moving point of contact between pen and paper.
The keyboard ruptures this connection. The tapping of my fingers on the keys
bears no relation to the marks that appear on the page or screen. These marks
carry no trace of movement or feeling. They are cold and expressionless. Typing on
the computer, I find, is joyless and soul-destroying. It rips the heart out of writing.

In a cursive script, the line, as it unravels upon the page, issues directly from this
gestural movement, with all the care, feeling and devotion that goes into it. I
compare it to practising my cello. When I practise — which I do as often as I can —
the sound pours out from the contact between bow and strings. In just the same
way, handwriting flows from the moving point of contact between pen and paper.
The keyboard ruptures this connection. The tapping of my fingers on the keys
bears no relation to the marks that appear on the page or screen. These marks
carry no trace of movement or feeling. They are cold and expressionless. Typing on
the computer, I find, is joyless and soul-destroying. It rips the heart out of writing.

sara the ninth 💀 @sara@xoxo.zone

@omar Remarkable! Would you care to share where this is from?

Joël Franusic @jpf@mastodon.social

@sara @omar Looks like it’s from “Correspondences” by Tim Ingold: https://books.google.com/books?id=QFoEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT159&lpg=PT159&dq=%22I+used+normally+to+write+by+hand,+with+a+fountain+pen.+In+the+past+I+would+never+use+a+typewriter+unless+I+had+to,+and+I+must+have+been+among+the+last+to+succumb+to+the+temptations+of+the+word+processor.%22&source=bl&ots=NRwaLTvTyd&sig=ACfU3U1WAKVrboV37owq5iTbq1-MnGMwhQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjp75Tr84T_AhUCAzQIHfUBAmYQ6AF6BAgQEAI#v=onepage&q=%22I%20used%20normally%20to%20write%20by%20hand%2C%20with%20a%20fountain%20pen.%20In%20the%20past%20I%20would%20never%20use%20a%20typewriter%20unless%20I%20had%20to%2C%20and%20I%20must%20have%20been%20among%20the%20last%20to%20succumb%20to%20the%20temptations%20of%20the%20word%20processor.%22&f=false

sara the ninth 💀 @sara@xoxo.zone

@jpf @omar thanks!!!

Joël Franusic @jpf@mastodon.social

@omar I have a fountain pen on order, so I can feel what it’s like to use one