“A room all to oneself”: the secret places of writers

Anyone would get lost in this ocean of books, but not him. With his mental order of him, without using any classification system, he always knew how to always find the volume he was looking for. This extraordinary library also includes the infinite editions of his books translated abroad (The Name of The rose came out in 60 languages ​​and sold over 50 million copies). While the ancient texts he collected were donated to the Braidense in Milan, the others will soon be transferred to the University Library of Bologna of the Alma Mater Studiorum, which also includes the Umberto Eco International Center for Humanistic Studies.

Do you think that the great Umberto Eco concentrated only surrounded by silence? Not really: as it reveals A room all to yourselfthe scholar always loved to have a music backgroundwhich could range from Bach until the jazz and at swing. A curiosity: she also knew how to play the sweet flutewith which he performed baroque music, of which he was a great admirer. A true eclectic, when it comes to music.

Proust and hot water

A room of your own is essential, but for writing it is equally important a good desk, you say. In general, yes, but not for everyone. Marcel Proust (1871-1922), the writer of the famous Madeleine contained in In search of lost timehe wrote in his bed, especially at night. Over a hundred years ago, the houses were less warm, so she put on numerous sweaters and put on the bed hot water bottles. On the walls she had glued cork panelsso as not to hear external noises.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), on the other hand, wrote while standing. As Johnson explains in A room for himself, the writer had suffered two plane crashes, and the pain of his injuries prevented him from sitting for long. On the estate of Finca Vigia, in Cuba, he worked in his bedroom, with his typewriter leaning against a bookcase. He kept track of the number of words written each day and sometimes he worked in the company of Black Dog, his spinger spaniel. Hemingway was an early riser, but not too much: he started around 6.30 and continued until noon.

Jane and the desk

Other times, however, those of Jane Austen (1775-1817): a room of one’s own was not foreseen. Besides, the girl was the daughter of a Anglican pastornot of a rich nobleman, and had well seven brothers. In the family home in Steventon, Hampshire, the author of Pride and Prejudice used one portable mahogany desk, which her father had given her for her nineteenth birthday. This desk, which also held her glasses, was her dearest object.

The envelopes of “Gone with the Wind”

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), author of Gone With the Wind, she was a reporter. If she hadn’t had an accident, maybe she wouldn’t quit her job. And maybe we wouldn’t have had her great novel. Margaret, who was actually called Peggy Marsh, worked on her book for ten years, locked up in her Atlanta apartment that she referred to as “The dump”.

He had a folding desk by the window. Each chapter he concluded came closed in an envelope: he absolutely did not want anyone to know what he was working on. The envelopes multiplied until they invaded the whole house and when his future publisher asked to read the manuscript, he had to buy a suitcase to be able to take them away.

Even on the plane and in a tent

Not all writers need a room for themselves. There are those who work very well the bar, in hotel roomsor and even travelling. Margaret Atwoodborn in 1939, best known for The Handmaid’s Tale and great contemporary novelist, she writes everywhere. Even on board a plane.

The only indispensable condition is have coffee available. Who knows, maybe because as a young man, before he became famous, he worked in a coffee shop. The Canadian chain Balzac’s has dedicated a blend to her. Agatha Christie he would agree with her: he managed to work too in a tent in the desertwhere she had accompanied her archaeologist husband.

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