Clackety clack

Images of typewriters -- ancient black pillared ones, newer ones, Olivetti portables, Selectrics -- now stand as symbols or signs for writers, writing, the writing life. It used to be pens -- quill pens, glass pens, steel pens, then fountain pens of varying splendor. That was when typewriters could only symbolize journalism or screenwriting, up-to-date and not evocative.