Of the Fountain Pens > IDEAS & IDEALS

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  IDEAS & IDEALS

Of the Fountain Pens

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 Although I have thrown away several of them, yet I have four fountain pens in store at home. Each one has its own sentimental value for me. Two of them are very expensive ones and of the famous brand. The nibs of which are made of high carat of gold. To my great regret, however, I rarely have occasions to use any of them nowadays. No longer I write on paper with a fountain pen. Mostly I type on the screen of my PC connected to my laser printer.

     I feel sorry for the fountain pens lying idle at a corner of my desk beside the Internet. They are always there as if waiting for my touch. Once in a while I pick them up one by one, feel them in my hand, fill ink or change cartridges if necessary, scribble something on a piece of paper to test their condition, and put them back in the place as before. It has become a sort of ritual for me.

     And, as a calligrapher does with a brush, I have time with my fountain pens. Regularly I write some passages on paper with one of my favorite fountain pens. It is like a practice for athletes to keep up with their bodily condition. I feel good when my penmanship goes well and smooth. When not, I spend more time than usual until I feel satisfied.

     Recently I added one more to my stockpile of fountain pens. One of my old colleagues presented me with a new fountain pen, also fairly expensive one with a very well-known brand name. Knowing that I have particular fondness for fountain pens, he offered it to me as a present when I met him for lunch. Handing it over to me he said, "I don't like to see such a good fountain pen lying unused all the time before me gathering dust on it." Gladly, with many thanks, I accepted it.

     There was a time when a fountain pen like this was a treasure. It was a dream to own one. It was an envy of all. For some professional writers it was a life-long tool of work for making a livelihood. It was simply impossible to imagine that anyone would or could ever give away such a useful and valuable property for nothing.

    The time has changed. We all know handwriting is disappearing from us, and along with it the fountain pens. It began slowly with the spread of typewriters, and the advent of the Internet and e-mail created a seismic shift in the way we write and communicate. They seem to have tolled the death knell of the handwriting as well as of the pen. No one writes seriously anything on paper nowadays by hand with a pen. They sit before PC and strike the keyboard instead. Pencils, pens, and fountain pens seem to have all gone useless and disappeared. It makes me sad.

     But I was wrong in being sad. The other day I dropped in at the stationery shop in the campus after a long while. To my great surprise and delight, the shop was full of good and fine writing instruments - all sorts of pencils, pens, papers, ink, - infinitely variegated and new models in color, shape, and size. The shop was full of people and the business was thriving. I was perplexed at first, and then soon relieved and happy. So long as pencils and pens live on well like this, handwriting will remain with us as well, I thought.

     With so many colorful and beautiful pencils before my eyes I fell momentarily into some recollection of my elementary school days. I always had many pencils, long and short. I sharpened each of them every day with a knife, kept them carefully in a pencil case according to their length. To lose one by mistake or by theft was a disaster. To open a pencil case full of the sharply pointed pencils neatly arranged, to pick up one and write something on a notebook was more than a mere writing. It was an holy act of devotion.

     My happiness was doubled when I went to a department store downtown. First of all I was greatly impressed by the fact that a fairly spacious shop was solely allotted for selling the fountain pens at this luxurious department store. In it all the famous brands and new models were being displayed so elegantly, even so solemnly, that I was afraid to enter. I was very happy to have recognized the brand names of my fountain pens among them, as if I have met some old friends of mine in a quite unexpected place. Some were priced so high beyond and far above my ability to purchase. I realized there and then that fountain pens, like the luxurious watches, have evolved during my ignorance and neglect from a necessity to a luxury.

     The world of luxury goods operates according to an almost perverse logic. The moment technology threatens their obsolescence, the law of elegant vanity or futility kicks in. So the proliferation of e-mail has produced fabulously high-priced and ultra-luxury fountain  pens, turned them into prestigious writing instruments, liberating them from a need to a choice. The message is : If you buy and use this pen, then you are a rich, cultured, and successful person. Heads of State, CEOs, and VIPs sign their official documents and personal letters with this fountain pen.

     The history of handwriting goes far back into the history of mankind. It is with the civilization itself. Even the cave-men wrote, nay, engraved something on the rocks for practical as well as purely aesthetical motives or purposes. As a habit, custom and culture  it seems to be embedded in human DNA. This particular phenomenon that the market for the prestigious fountain pens is gaining in stature is a proof that not only the ancient relics of the handwriting perpetuate themselves and die hard, but also evolve into a rare skill and fine art, as we see in calligraphy today.
     (April 1, 2009)

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William Roger Jones님의 댓글

William Roger J… 이름으로 검색 작성일

Dear Mr. Lee,

That was a great article on ink pens. Yes, it seems fountain pens are a thing of the past. And, certainly, penmanship has deteriated. And, the old business of handwriting letters is falling. I guess now the pen will only be used for signatures; signing documents. However, I'm a diehard, I love fountain pens too. I think ownership tells something about one's character. Something good. A meticulous person. A detailed person. A diligent person. A person of class. A person who knows the value of an invention that continues to defy time.

Respectfully yours, I AM
William Roger Jones
Jeju Island

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이창국님의 댓글의 댓글

이창국 쪽지보내기 메일보내기 자기소개 아이디로 검색 전체게시물 작성일

Dear Mr. William R. Jones;
Thank you very much for your encouraging kind letter for my newspaper article about handwriting and fountain pens. I am very glad that there is at least one more person around who still loves to write by hand. It was a nostalgic piece. We miss the time when handwriting was the only means to writing and communication, and when good penmanship was highly valued and honored.
Thank you again for your favorable opinion to my essay on the quaint subject. I am happy to have a person like you who can share the same sentiment with me.
Thank you,
Sincerely yours,
Lee Chang-kook

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Bill Cameron님의 댓글

Bill Cameron 이름으로 검색 작성일

On Fountain Pen Network, where the Fountain pen nuts hang out, some nice poster copied your article that was in the Korean Times.
Please show up and have some fun. We will get you into inks and papers and many different nibs of fun.

It was a most poignant article. I found this line from you, to be true, and states as I had not read nor thought.

“The world of luxury goods operates according to an almost perverse logic. The moment technology threatens their obsolescence, the law of elegant vanity or futility kicks in.”

Is not though a Clipper sailing ship the epitome of beauty?

Our definition of class is imprinted on us in our youth, even just distance views. Perhaps one has the Buliva, inspite of better more accurate and cheaper to maintain modern watches. Perhaps we have finally a Snorkel fountain pen. To us it has a meaning.
One is of course more worth than what one has, but the small things one has, as private pleasure and not public display are reminders of distant needs; satisfied. Our life is set of goals; some we know, some we absorb.

Our little knick knack treasures are the fallen leaves of goals. Our leaves we press in our memory book are just for us; for what memory can I give of watching the twisting flutter of a falling leaf to others, who were not there and never, will be. They have their own fluttering leaves; and days of their own.

I was in Korea for a three month TDY in 1971, at Cheong Ju Air Base, (Closed 1980). I have many nice memories.

Sincerely yours,

Bill Cameron 2011-09-03 11:40:16

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이창국님의 댓글의 댓글

이창국 쪽지보내기 메일보내기 자기소개 아이디로 검색 전체게시물 작성일

Dear Mr. Bill Cameron;
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am very happy to learn from you that my essay about the fountain pen published years ago in The Korea Times was noticed and read by somebody, especially by foreigners outside Korea. It was very kind of you to introduce me to the new world of the Fountain Pen Network and to make a very good and favorable comment on my article. Thank you very much again.
I like your writing. The letter is full of apt and beautiful metaphorical expressions which I cannot but love and
admire. It is very poetic letter. I think you are a poet, are you not? You write beautifully.
I am glad to hear that you have some experience in Korea, although it is brief.
Thank you again.

Sincerely yours,
Lee Chang-Kook

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George Cash님의 댓글

George Cash 이름으로 검색 작성일

Good morning Dr. Lee,
I very much enjoyed your article "From Need To Choice", and wondered if you also had it in the Korean language.
I will distribute it to my Korean friends, some of whom think that I am crazy man.
미친 남자
for my love of fountain pens.

With respect,
George Cash

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이창국님의 댓글의 댓글

이창국 쪽지보내기 메일보내기 자기소개 아이디로 검색 전체게시물 작성일

Dear Mr. George Cash;
Thank you very much for your favorable comment on my newspaper article about the sad fate of the fountain pens these days. It is very kind of you to say that you enjoyed reading it. I am very happy. Thank you so much.
Yes, I have it in Korean language. I can send one copy of it to you by mail if you give me your mailing address, but think twice before distribute it to your Korean friends. They will not appreciate it much, if not say you are 'crazy.'

Sincerely yours,
Lee Chang-Kook

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