Performance artist Tim Youd sits at his typewriter in the Adele Learning Commons on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus
Performance artist Tim Youd sits at his typewriter in the Adele Learning Commons while retyping the Willa Cather novel “O Pioneers!”

Tim Youd, a performance artist from Los Angeles, spent six days at the beginning of April retyping the Willa Cather novel “O Pioneers!” on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.

The retyping is part of Youd’s 100 Novels project, in which he retypes a famous novel, by typewriter, on a single sheet of paper. The final product is an art piece meant to represent how our minds understand a novel. Youd will be retyping two more Cather novels in Nebraska. His six weeks in the state are sponsored by the Willa Cather Archive.

Youd will be retyping “The Song of the Lark” at the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska, from April 10-29, and “My Antonia” in Omaha from May 1-10.