Story summary
Samenvatting van De betoverde schrijfmachine
- 8 min. leestijd
- 8 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
Jim Boswell, editor of the Stygian Gazette, types on a library typewriter that starts clicking on its own.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · We mailen je voordat je betaalt · Online opzeggen in twee klikken
De betoverde schrijfmachine in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 1 h 45 min1 h 25 min fast, 2 h 10 min slow
- Lengte
- 25.500 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1899by John Kendrick Bangs
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van De betoverde schrijfmachine, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
De betoverde schrijfmachine in short
The Enchanted Typewriter follows a man who finds an old machine in his attic and learns that it carries letters from Hades. Jim Boswell types out the news of the underworld. There are revolts against Apollyon, a rival editor in Xanthippe, tours for the famous dead, a dog on trial, a Holmes case and a craze for golf.
What De betoverde schrijfmachine is about
What would you do if the old typewriter in your library began clicking at a quarter to three in the morning, with nobody in the chair? The narrator of this book hides behind a hair sofa, then walks in armed with a sword cane. He finds that the keys are being worked by a ghost.
The Enchanted Typewriter is a comic fantasy by John Kendrick Bangs, an American humorist. It comes as papers typed from beyond the grave by Jim Boswell, editor of the Stygian Gazette, the newspaper of Hades. Clubs, newspapers, politics, business and golf all get a turn, and the famous dead act them out.
Voor wie is het?. You will love this book if you enjoy gentle satire, puns and absurd logic, and like to see famous names behave like ordinary people.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A tinkerer finds a typewriter with a ghost
The story opens with a man who cannot leave a machine alone. Laid up with the flu, the narrator climbs into his attic and finds an old typewriter. He spends a whole morning taking it apart, cleaning it and putting it back together.
The machine proves useless for writing. His jokes vanish between the keys and the paper. When he types his own name, the machine prints William Shakespeare.
The real surprise comes early on the morning of March 26. Home from a dinner at the Aldus Club at a quarter to three, he hears a click from the dark library. His heart, he says, leaps out of his mouth, bounces off a wall and lands in his boots. He lights the gas jets and sees the machine working before an empty chair.
The machine types back that it is no machine at all. It is Jim Boswell, editor of the Stygian Gazette. The narrator sees a chance to sell the copy and offers Boswell everything he owns. Boswell hands over all rights, since money is no use where he lives.
A curious mind and a warm welcome are enough to turn a haunted machine into a working partnership.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
Hades has politics, tyrants and a tattooed editor
On the second night Boswell arrives late because of a campaign.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
Xanthippe takes over the paper and wrecks it
Next time the bell rings, the narrator calls out a cheerful hello, old chap, and a woman answers.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
Boswell's tours bring the famous dead to town
Now the narrator needs company.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
A dog on trial and a guidebook to Hades
One night Boswell comes back full of court news.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
Sherlock Holmes takes a case and Hades takes up golf
Next, Boswell arrives with a memoir about Sherlock Holmes.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
The afterlife is only our own world turned up a notch
The central joke of the book is that death changes nothing.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
A frame story with voices nested inside
The book is told as a frame.
Read all 8 key ideas now
3 months free, then USD 0,14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- We mailen je voordat je betaalt
- Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- The narrator A mild, vain humorist who finds the old typewriter in his attic and agrees to publish what the ghosts type through it.
- Jim Boswell The dead editor of the Stygian Gazette, who uses the machine to copy his notes and sends the narrator news from Hades.
- Xanthippe The wife of Socrates, a sharp new woman who takes over Boswell's newspaper and wants wives to become good fellows.
- Apollyon Also called Old Nick, the arbitrary ruler of Hades, whose harsh rule provokes a revolt and demands for a constitution.
- Baron Munchausen The famous teller of tall tales, who claims that Adam, Noah, Jonah and Shakespeare are impostors living off his earlier lives.
- Sherlock Holmes The great detective, now a ferret in Hades, who tells how he found the owner of a lock of golden hair.
How it ends (spoiler)
The tours and the cases end, and the golf craze takes hold of Hades. In the last chapter Boswell admits that he does not enjoy the game, because in Hades he is Dr. Johnson's caddy. With a heartbreaking sigh he falls silent, and the typewriter never answers again. The narrator tries every question and insult, then concludes that golf has stolen his visitors, and he bids the reader an affectionate farewell.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of De betoverde schrijfmachine opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Vragen over De betoverde schrijfmachine
What is The Enchanted Typewriter about?
A humorist finds an old typewriter in his attic and learns that ghosts from Hades use it at night. Jim Boswell, a dead editor, types news, tall tales and cases about the famous dead, all in a comic tone.
Who is Jim Boswell in The Enchanted Typewriter?
He is the ghost who first uses the typewriter. Boswell is the editor of the Stygian Gazette in Hades and is himself the biographer of Dr. Johnson. He types news and manuscripts and organizes tours to earth.
Who are Xanthippe and Baron Munchausen in this book?
Xanthippe is the wife of Socrates, who briefly edits Boswell's paper with strong views about equality of the sexes. Munchausen is the teller of tall tales who claims to have lived as Adam, Noah, Jonah and Shakespeare.
Is The Enchanted Typewriter a true story, and when was it written?
No, it is a comic fantasy by the American humorist John Kendrick Bangs, written around the turn of the twentieth century. It mocks the clubs, newspapers, politics and sports of his own time by setting them in the underworld.
Is The Enchanted Typewriter easy to read?
Yes, the chapters are short and self-contained, with a lively conversational tone, puns and funny scenes. You can enjoy each one on its own, from the Cerberus trial to the Sherlock Holmes case and the golf chapter.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Bangs, John Kendrick. The Enchanted Typewriter. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-enchanted-typewriter.
Bangs, J. K. (2026). The enchanted typewriter. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-enchanted-typewriter (Original work published 1899)
Bangs, John Kendrick. The Enchanted Typewriter. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-enchanted-typewriter.
@book{bangs2026enchanted,
author = {Bangs, John Kendrick},
title = {The Enchanted Typewriter},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-enchanted-typewriter},
note = {First published 1899}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian Gray3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van De betoverde schrijfmachine, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
