I have always liked the sound of a typewriter. I loved my father’s grey typewriter Consul and looked forward a moment when my dad sits down and starts writing. I have never interfered with his writings, still, I hear the sound till these days. It has been long time since my father stopped writing. The typewriter is resting under the old Czech Closet Universal in my former child room. It is full of dust despite the efforts of my mother. There is no need for a typewriter anymore. It has been replaced by computers, tablets and mobile phones. They do not have sound unless you wish so. You may configure that. Keyboard with or without a sound.
I have not thought about the glory of typewriters for a long time. Some writers would disagree since they still enjoy the click at the end of the line and passing the cylinder to the next line while using mechanical pagan device. Nevertheless, today, we write differently.
I was introduced to the mystery of typewriting in the majestic building of the Secondary Economic School in Chrudim. I had no clue how much I would have enjoyed typewriting. We had old mechanic typewriters. After all, I am turning fifty this year. I still appreciate that the school was not up to speed and we had to work hard without modern machines. It was probably due to a lack of money to afford something more modern. If you have made an error, you have to repeat the same line as many times as many errors you made. You will learn well this way. We have also used carbon paper, called “kopírák”, if more copies were needed. I liked them a lot too. Only a handful of persons would know them today. So, for those born later, those were thin blue or black papers, which you would put between two or more white papers. The writing at the upper paper is copied into the lower one.
I was fifteen when I entered secondary school. I lived in the students’ dormitories. Emptying the nest and having a head full of dreams. In addition to old typewriters at school, I was absolutely enchanted by black typewriters with round buttons that appeared in some households. I loved seeing them in films, used by writers shrouded in grey clouds of smoke, be it a cigarette or cigar. The smoke was part of it. As a non-smoker today, I would not be impressed that much, but I still love those machines.
I would not remember them if it would not be for series “Durrell’s” that I saw on the Czech television recently. Family series are based on a book trilogy of the British writer and zoologist, Gerald Durrell. The main heroine is Luisa Durrell. Following the death of her husband, she decides to tackle financial distress in 1930th through moving from England to Corfu, with her four children. Her twenty-two old son dreams of becoming a writer. I have been watching it today, during breakfast. It gave me shivers. I would be very happy if resemblance to my destiny would be only a coincidence. I have also lost my husband and have three children only. We do not have to move yet. But who knows? We are living in strange times.
When Larry contemplated about a title of his novel, carrying cigarette in his hand, I noticed his typewriter CORONA. I chocked completely. The word the most frequently used today everywhere in the world. Corona is from Latin and means also CROWN. It is not the fault of the typewriter, on the contrary, it was meant as a triumph over the old way of writing. Typewriter CORONA was excellent during its times. The first model came out in 1906, but the most successful was the folding typewriter CORONA 3 in 1912.
Now back to the present times. Corona (“koruna”) is also a currency in my country. I am from the former Czechoslovakia. I am living with my children in Switzerland but part of my family still lives in the Czech Republic. I am following current events across countries. I am thinking about my parents, my children, who are here with me. I am thinking about my oldest daughter, celebrating her twenty-four birthday today. She is expecting a baby. My fingers are crossed for her and all future mothers to be save. That the health emergency over the world ends soon and everything will be in order, as much as possible. That medical doctors, nurses, army, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, could take a bit of rest again. I wish that nightmarish word CORONA become CROWN.
Lea Mandikova
Geneva, 21 March 2020