Thursday, December 09, 2004

Incipient Neo-Luddite Goes Whole Hog

This came over the transom this morning:

Dear Bill,

Please send me your phone number. After today, I am a full-blown and proud neo-luddite. (Like Tom Wolfe, etc.) Looking forward to talking with you and explaining.

Yours,

Bob

A full-blown neo-Luddite who is going to phone me? Telephony is now completely computer-driven. Wendell Berry apparently employs his wife to type up his hand-scrawled manuscripts. See here. What if one's wife does not submit docilely to mechanical tasks? Does Berry make ink from berries and apply ink to home-made paper with a quill plucked from a goose?