Performance artist Tim Youd follows two rules when retyping books for his 100 Novels Project.
Rule No. 1: He must use the same make and model of typewriter originally used by the author. Fortunately for Youd, he has 100 typewriters in his California studio and a close friendship with the world’s preeminent typewriter historian.
And Rule No. 2: He must retype the novels in a significant location — the Chicago stockyards for The Jungle, William Faulkner’s front yard for The Sound and the Fury, St. Louis’ Bellefontaine Cemetery for Naked Lunch.
And now KWUR, WashU’s student radio station, for The Dick Gibson Show, Stanley Elkin’s bawdy classic about a late-night disc jockey.
From Sunday, April 13, through May 1, Youd will host the overnight show Up All Night on KWUR with Tim Youd, typing, word for word, Elkin’s 1971 novel on a single sheet of paper. The live broadcast also will feature audio recordings of Elkin reading from his works and Youd’s interviews with acclaimed artists, authors and critics. Featured guests include Richard Polt, the typewriter historian who determined that Elkin used a Royal typewriter; Molly Elkin, a labor lawyer and daughter of Stanley and Joan Elkin; and Joel Minor, WashU Libraries curator of the Modern Literature Collection and manuscripts, home of the recently completed Stanley Elkin Papers.
