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October 11, 2009 |
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Son Adrift
FOUND by Gabe R.
in Brooklyn, New York
Found this in an old copy of Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf, bought from the Brooklyn College Library booksale room.
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
It''s sad but more and more i think these finds are fake. I started reading found magazine about 6 years ago, back then they were different now they just seem phoned in.
I agree that there is something weird about this being typed.
Nothing odd about typing personal correspondence if you love typing or have illegible handwriting. I got my first manual typewriter, a Royal, at age 8. After that I typed everything I could. My father often borrowed it to type his letters due to his ornate, almost Gothic handwriting.
Papa doesn't realise that the reason Junior hasn't called the University, and the reason Papa can't find the car, is that Junior is now in Canada. (Look at the date). But he may be in denial of what he really knows, since he did report the car stolen--or is he just helping to cover Junior's trail?
I don't think it's faked. And it's better than yesterday's shopping list, which while it may have been geniune, was meh.
I think the boy had to get out of a household where the mother wasn't always home and the father was so formal he had to type his notes to him.
There is a weird dynamic of "I'm extremely mad at you" versus "Please come home" going on in this note. Typing implies that someone gave a lot of thought to what he was writing and yet there were a ton of typos -wee, the space before the "w" in tomorrow, and of course the second "draft board". What a Freudian slip that was - and what's "ht" at the bottom? Quite a sterile rendition of an emotional letter.
old fis
Found in a copy of Steppenwolf, you say? Looks like the son was just born to be wild.
Sorry, just couldn't resist it.
Oh God this is sad. I did not realize the father did not know where his son was until the post-scriptum.
As for the typing, I guess it was just more convenient as he wanted to send several copies...
A typed letter addressing him as "Son" shows the distance in this relationship.
Let's hope we never have another draft board in this country.
Papa is playing cat n mouse with this kid.
Do I smell Brillcream? A lil' dab'll dew ya.
Typing letters before and after the 60's was quite common, regardless of the intimacy of the relationship, especially, as stated in the above comment, because many people who had bad writing wouldn't want to write a whole letter and make it illegible. In fact, in Julia Child's book she often said that she would type ALL of her letters because she had terrible handwriting, even to her sister, whom she was very close with.
I think it's incredibly sad that this son ran away to escape the war, papa is obviously in denial of it. I don't think he was necessarily a distant father, just your average one who kept their distance (how many 18-19 year old boys do you know are super-close with their dads?) and in that time it was a little awkward to address a letter "Dear John" to you son.
I hope papa found the boy after the war was over, even though it would be another 9 years later. Maybe the son got the draft notice and that's why he was gone? Had he stayed in university he more than likely wouldn't have had to go... :(
This is on onion skin, which suggests it might be one of the carbon copies, and since it was found in a book it suggests the letter found its recipient. The carbon copies would have probably discouraged the writer from correcting his mistakes.
Maybe this wasn't "Dad" at all, but a friend communicating secretly?
My Grandfather always wrote letters. He complained about this to me. Why this should be done? 'It is more personel and thoughtful'. Though my Father called the 'old' guy 3 times a week. That was back in the 60's. ....tap...tap on the typewriter drew alot of on lookers. Mother was gone....ht may have been the writer whose last typing job was in military supply. 'Papa' sounds Brooklyn. Papers aged...if it's a fake it's a good one. The kid probably split...as to where? He must have received the letter.
How heartbreaking!
I used to type letters to my grandmother all the time. She would type back to me. 1966..I was six years old.
Kind of weird reading this. Like, I just traveled back in time).
Wow. I hope I never have to track down any of my kids in such a random way. I wonder if I could be as loving and forgiving as this dad, keeping all doors open for the prodigal son.
I remember reading Steppanwolf and Siddhartha and how it was cool to walk around with a Herman Hesse book in your hand.
By the way, I am always perusing used book stores and buying old books. I never have come across a cool find like this. What a gem.
My Gramps always typed letters to me. I'm talking about the 80's and 90's. I wrote back sometimes, but usually I just got very lyrical letters from him. I miss recieving those letters, and if I really want to make myself cry, I go back and read my collection of them...
He typed everything because he had Parkinson's and it caused an intention tremor. Everytime he tried to write, his hand would shake... if he was just sitting still, hanging out, no problem with the tremor.
Though, looking at Papa's signature, it doesn't look like he has Parkinson's.
I actually felt that because of the signature, Papa, father and son were probably close. I would think a father who wasn't loving wouldn't sign a letter with a nickname like Papa.
Nowadays he could just send a bunch of emails, texts and twitters - and then call OnStar or Lojack about the car...
Papa sounds like a nice guy.
I miss typewriters.
Why would the YMCA need a copy?
@Busrider: He hoped the kid was renting a room at one of them so he sent copies to each one in the area "John Smith C/O YMCA (address)"
Ian had the only funny comment. (Farmer's might have been, but I couldn't decipher it.)
I think the letter is definitely real. That onion skin paper was "erasable" typing paper, but in this case, Papa probably used carbon copies to send to the YMCAs, so did not correct the typos. Steppenwolf was a popular book in the 1960s. I tried to read it because everyone was doing it, but couldn't get into it. It is still sitting on the bookshelf in my library. I think the letter reached its destination at the YMCA where the son was renting a room. I'm guessing the son escaped the draft, survived the Vietnam war, and Papa and Son were reunited and are now good friends.
This is really sad, a window into a past world.
There were no photocopiers around much in 1966, so if he wanted to send multiple copies to every YMCA in NYC, the quickest way back then was to make carbon copies on his typewriter. He even took the time to sign each copy by the looks of it.
In 1966 you couldn't correct typing errors, especially if making carbon copies. Tippex on the top copy maybe.
Actually his typing is pretty accurate.
Sad little story. 'ht' I guess is his initials. Of COURSE they were close; my father would never have said 'I love you very much' in 1966, or ever. It just wasn't the thing to do.
Note he is offering to send him cash!
I wonder how many thimes this little runaway/dropout/draft dodge drama was played out across the USA?
It's fun to stay at the YMCA.
how many *times*
PS -- the fact that this copy found its way into a book, however that came about, would seem to signify that the recipient actually did get it.
(I imagine the runaway kid in his hippy dropout pad reading Steppenwolf! Yeah, man.)
So some kind of a happy ending at least.
Perhaps.
(...but just where DID he leave the car? Or did he sell it for cash before he got Papa's note??)
This just broke my heart a little!