Posting/Touching

Writing a letter to someone means you’re touching them from a distance. And if you don’t touch them, you almost do. You both hold on to a piece of material culture that has particular pertinence. It’s not just that a letter is much more work than, say, a telephone call, an email or – remember them? – a fax. It’s that a letter is, always already, an act of touch from afar. The hard work does, itself, a lot of hard work.

It’s a different kind of touch, though. A mediated touch, purloined by the middle man (or woman). Holding hands handled by another. Do we appreciate the touch-work our Post People undertake every day? Do we even know their name?

Keeping in touch, then, is about keeping in with touch. Post a letter today – touch out!

For more on this, try Pamela Thurschwell’s book on Technology, Literature and Magical Thinking where the idea of “intimacy from a distance” is developed and thought through at greater length.