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In his 1971 poem, “The Typewriter Revolution”, British writer and critic D.J. Enright offers a reflexive commentary on the literary possibilities opened up by mechanised writing. [1] No doubt meant as a critique of the havoc wreaked on poetic craft by the advent of the typewriter, from our contemporary vantage point the poem cannot help but read as an uncanny anticipation of the way digital modes of communication have come to reshape writing and the use of human language. Here, as if already fully formed, are the “feels”, “LOL”s, ‘ersatz orthography’, and neologism that we have come to recognise in online discourse, from email and text messaging to social media and internet bulletin boards.

In his 1971 poem, “The Typewriter Revolution”, British writer and critic D.J. Enright offers a reflexive commentary on the literary possibilities opened up by mechanised writing. [1] No doubt meant as a critique of the havoc wreaked on poetic craft by the advent of the typewriter, from our contemporary vantage point the poem cannot help but read as an uncanny anticipation of the way digital modes of communication have come to reshape writing and the use of human language. Here, as if already fully formed, are the “feels”, “LOL”s, ‘ersatz orthography’, and neologism that we have come to recognise in online discourse, from email and text messaging to social media and internet bulletin boards.

In his 1971 poem, “The Typewriter Revolution”, British writer and critic D.J. Enright offers a reflexive commentary on the literary possibilities opened up by mechanised writing. [1] No doubt meant as a critique of the havoc wreaked on poetic craft by the advent of the typewriter, from our contemporary vantage point the poem cannot help but read as an uncanny anticipation of the way digital modes of communication have come to reshape writing and the use of human language. Here, as if already fully formed, are the “feels”, “LOL”s, ‘ersatz orthography’, and neologism that we have come to recognise in online discourse, from email and text messaging to social media and internet bulletin boards.

In his 1971 poem, “The Typewriter Revolution”, British writer and critic D.J. Enright offers a reflexive commentary on the literary possibilities opened up by mechanised writing. [1] No doubt meant as a critique of the havoc wreaked on poetic craft by the advent of the typewriter, from our contemporary vantage point the poem cannot help but read as an uncanny anticipation of the way digital modes of communication have come to reshape writing and the use of human language. Here, as if already fully formed, are the “feels”, “LOL”s, ‘ersatz orthography’, and neologism that we have come to recognise in online discourse, from email and text messaging to social media and internet bulletin boards.

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¼ ½ ¾ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞

All of these changes, it would seem, are imminent in the typewriter itself, and at the centre of Enright’s poem is his own machine, “a Swetish Maid/Called FACIT”. While the other big typewriter brands — Olympia, Aristocrat, Remington, Olivetti, Underwood — are cheekily misspelled, “FACIT” is not, a choice that speaks to the company’s stature in the industry, evenas Enright’s “maid” reproduces the gendered stereotypes that had attached themselves to the typewriter since the late nineteenth century.

All of these changes, it would seem, are imminent in the typewriter itself, and at the centre of Enright’s poem is his own machine, “a Swetish Maid/Called FACIT”. While the other big typewriter brands — Olympia, Aristocrat, Remington, Olivetti, Underwood — are cheekily misspelled, “FACIT” is not, a choice that speaks to the company’s stature in the industry, evenas Enright’s “maid” reproduces the gendered stereotypes that had attached themselves to the typewriter since the late nineteenth century.

All of these changes, it would seem, are imminent in the typewriter itself, and at the centre of Enright’s poem is his own machine, “a Swetish Maid/Called FACIT”. While the other big typewriter brands — Olympia, Aristocrat, Remington, Olivetti, Underwood — are cheekily misspelled, “FACIT” is not, a choice that speaks to the company’s stature in the industry, evenas Enright’s “maid” reproduces the gendered stereotypes that had attached themselves to the typewriter since the late nineteenth century.

All of these changes, it would seem, are imminent in the typewriter itself, and at the centre of Enright’s poem is his own machine, “a Swetish Maid/Called FACIT”. While the other big typewriter brands — Olympia, Aristocrat, Remington, Olivetti, Underwood — are cheekily misspelled, “FACIT” is not, a choice that speaks to the company’s stature in the industry, evenas Enright’s “maid” reproduces the gendered stereotypes that had attached themselves to the typewriter since the late nineteenth century.

(,.-–—!?/&%)