handwriting

At the end of "20th Century: Eclecticism, Technology and the Idiosyncratic Imagination," Drucker questions whether "future generations will take more pleasure from the physicality of writing than from the immaterial electronic trace." The phrasing of the sentence leads me to believe that she favors the traditional handwritten form, and I have to say that I agree with her. I don't mean to undermine the benefits and convenience of modern technology, but when it comes down to it, I think a handwritten work holds more meaning than one conceived on a word processor. I realize that it isn't plausible to expect an author to write each and every copy of his/her book by hand. That's precisely where modern technology comes in, in the mass production stage of the process. The point where it counts is in the stage of conception. When an author produces a handwritten manuscript, his/her imprint is permanently left on that work. The evolution of the words can be seen every time a note is scribbled in the margins or a sentence is crossed out. This element of growth and development makes the handwritten medium much more personal than its counterpart.  read more »