Book: The Writer’s Desk (Jill Krementz)
My favourite picture from the book doesn’t show a desk at all. All it shows is the writer seated with pen and notebook in her hand. The writer in the picture is Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Literature Prize.
Another picture shows one of the younger writers, Veronica Chambers, seated on top of her kitchen counter, laptop on her lap. Again, no desk - not in the traditional sense of the word. Unfortunately, the picture is spoiled by the sight of the wire linking the laptop to a power outlet beneath the counter. I found myself thinking how much more powerful this picture would be if she were shown using an AlphaSmart. But the picture was taken in 1996 when the AlphaSmart was barely out of its infancy, and yet to be discovered by writers.
Chambers is one of four writers shown using a laptop in the book. One of the others is Amy Tan. All four represent the younger generation of writers featured in the book.
Most of the others have variations of the laptop’s “ancestor” (typewriter) on their desks - manual, electric, electronic, and a word processor here and there, too.
Some have no typewriters on theirs at all, Susan Sontag being one of them. Well, Morrison has neither desk nor typewriter of any sort. And some are shown standing up at a tall counter. I read somewhere that’s what Ernest Hemingway used to do - write standing up until he was happy with the words before moving on to a typewriter for the rest of the day.
Morrison also doesn’t have any books or papers or folders or filing cabinets around her. Most of the others do, their writing stuff stacked high, almost to the ceiling, or spread wide around them.
What all these writers have in common is that they are all featured in this book, The Writer’s Desk, a book of photographs taken by Jill Krementz, wife of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr (he’s also in the book).
Others in the book include P G Wodehouse, Stephen King, John Irving, Jean Piaget, John Cheever, Pablo Neruda, E B White, Thornton Wilder, Philip Roth, Robert Penn Warren, Joan Didion, James Michener, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Tennessee Williams, Saul Bellow, Joyce Carol Oates, etc.
Accompanying each picture is a short essay by each writer about their writing process. The introduction is written by John Updike, who has three pictures accompanying his words, each showing one of three of his writing desks.
Many of the writers I’m familiar with, some I’ve never seen pictures of before, and very surprised when I finally saw what they look like. For example, I never knew Niiki Giovanni is female. Or black.
Unfortunately, the book is out of print. I got mine from an online second-hand bookseller. I’d read about it from Richard. His entry about it is here. All it took to send me searching for a copy was the magic word “writer” .
Now, I’m thinking of getting a second copy, for a friend whose birthday is coming up soon.
Shh …
*mysterious*
An interview with Jill Krementz about the book, with some pictures from it, may be viewed here:
Leaving a Trail: A Writer’s Desk by Jill Krementz
Another stunning picture from the book is the one on the cover:
That’s Eudora Welty in profile at her desk, her typewriter before her.
