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For nearly 100 years, the world of words was dominated by the sights, sounds, and sensations of the typewriter. During the period between roughly 1880 and 1980, which Martyn Lyons has termed “the typewriter century,” the typewriter became a mainstay on the desks of writers, journalists, and office managers—or their secretaries. It is no wonder that, as typewriters began to alter the mechanics of textual production, these changes were also reflected in texts produced in that period. In addition to earning its place as a tool of the modern office, the typewriter made its mark as a literary device everywhere from memoirs and poetry to mystery novels and films. What can we learn from the relationship between the typewriter’s evolving use in everyday life and its symbolic deployment in works of art and literature? No prerequisites; all readings in English.