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Why Is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?

2/7/2011

Why is a raven like a writing desk?
— The Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll doesn’t give us an answer to this question, but one look at my own desk supplies an answer: both ravens and writing desks (mine, at least) collect shiny things.

Ravens’ tendency to snatch up things that catch their eye and hide them for later makes them natural role models for writers. My desk is full of treasures and distractions, although everything on it is something I really need: my computer, of course; two monitors, so I can look at more than one thing at once; my favorite pens; my hourglass, to measure out uninterrupted writing time; my beloved Blackwing pencils, for marking up manuscripts; and the latest addition, my Batphone, because you never know when Gotham might need saving.

But I’m in good company. View this slideshow of famous writers' desks.

Here’s Joseph Conrad’s desk (photo by Ben Sutherland).

And Sue Grafton’s, an image I swiped (like any good raven) from Sue Ann Jaffarian’s blog.

Charles Dickens’ desk, which sold a couple of years ago for $850,000. It came without the author’s accessories, but had plenty of room for the 19th century equivalent of a bobblehead doll.

Some writers take a more minimalist approach, although a certain level of untidiness seems to go with the job. Here’s Ian Fleming at work. I wish there was a way to look as cool as he does with a cigarette holder without smoking. (Do you see an ashtray, by the way?

The author J.G. Ballard seems to work at a big table, although its surface is covered with paper. His workspace gets a lot of light, which is something else I find important. My own desk faces a big window, though I keep the blinds positioned to prevent me from staring out of it all day.

Vladimir Nabokov wrote standing up, which experts say is healthier — Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway all reportedly worked at standing desks.

Of course, if you’re really committed to finding a place to write, any flat surface will do. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence on this 18th-century version of a laptop.