The artist Bethany Collins was the subject of a recent (2026.03.04) story in the New York Times about her four-month transcription of Moby Dick with a nib pen on onionskin paper.
As an occasional transcriber of whaling ship logbooks, and having “digitized” The Reminiscences of Captain Thomas Chatfield” twenty years ago, I can relate to her comment that the process “It felt ritualistic, like meditation.”
The process of writing out another author’s work — to learn or to be inspired — is known as “copywork” and has been used by many authors to learn the rhythms and language choices of the greats.
Hunter Thompson re-typed The Great Gatsby and A Farewell to Arms, according to John-Paul Flintoff, writing “Why I Copy Out Great Writing By Hand” in Idler. Jack London copied Kipling’s work. Like Thompson, Joan Didion copied Hemingway to explore how his sentences were crafted.
Thanks to Jim Forbes for sharing Elly Fishman’s story in the New York Times.
