Is the Letter E Dying?

Wired has an obituary, here.

In Event of Moon Disaster

On Letters of Note there's an interesting letter that was never read. It was written by William Safire, Richard Nixon's staff writer, if something had gone terribly wrong with the moon landing.

From the letter...

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

Do You Want to Type on Your Computer...IN YOUR OWN HANDWRITING?

Here's how.

People Who Write Sonnets Should Be Hung

This sentiment, care of poet Robert Bly.

Holden Caulfield is Unactable

This is what J.D. Salinger wrote to a movie producer wanting to bring Salinger's classic tale, Catcher in the Rye, to the screen. You can read more of the letter on one of the more fabulous new websites I've found on the web, Letters of Note.

If I Cannot Live With You I Will Live Alone

My new favorite website of late is Letters of Note. They recently posted the last letter poet John Keats wrote to the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. He died at the age of 25 of tuberculosis.

The Lost Art of Handwriting

The Guardian has the famed author Umberto Eco discuss the lost art of handwriting and why it's important that out children learn how to do it.

From the piece...

Recently, two Italian journalists wrote a three-page newspaper article (in print, alas) about the decline of handwriting. By now it's well-known: most kids – what with computers (when they use them) and text messages – can no longer write by hand, except in laboured capital letters.

In an interview, a teacher said that students also make lots of spelling mistakes, which strikes me as a separate problem: doctors know how to spell and yet they write poorly; and you can be an expert calligrapher and still write "guage" or "gage" instead of "gauge".

I know children whose handwriting is fairly good. But the article talks of 50% of Italian kids – and so I suppose it is thanks to an indulgent destiny that I frequent the other 50% (something that happens to me in the political arena, too).

The tragedy began long before the computer and the cellphone.

The City Without a Memory

Some unfortunate news coming from the Times Online. Cologne, Germany's archives collapsed. Amid the rubble, treasures.

From the story...

The private papers of the Nobel prize-winning novelist Heinrich Böll, one of Germany's most powerful postwar writers, have been lost under the rubble. They include the drafts of books, corrected manuscripts, letters and radio plays. The writer was born in Cologne and insisted before his death in 1985 that the papers be moved from Boston to his home town.

Lost, too, were manuscripts of essays and articles written by Karl Marx when he was editor of the Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne in the 19th century.

Letters written by the philosopher Hegel, lyrics and notes written by the composer Jacques Offenbach – who composed The Tales of Hoffmann – edicts issued by Napoleon and King Louis XIV, and the personal papers of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany's first Chancellor and former mayor of Cologne, were also lost.

The Sublime Joy of Scrabble

Happy birthday, Scrabble.

A Geeky Alphabet

Fun artwork, care of a dude named Jared at Head Injury Theatre.

22 of the World's Most Creative Alphabets

A collection of alphabets gathered from the portfolios of artists, photographers and design students around the world, care of Reuben Miller's blog.

Letter-Inspired Fiction

Well, Esquire redeems itself slightly after the fake Heath Ledger diary/reported fiction thing. They're starting to create fiction using letters they receive to the editor. The first crack at a letter-inspired piece of fiction is Bret Anthony Johnston.