something major. I think Innis was indeed the 
first—as McLuhan always said—Innis was the first 
to hit upon the effects of the forms of media. Innis 
was unique in this respect. Now keep in mind that 
McLuhan also found great inspiration in James 
Joyce. He believed that Joyce had arrived at a 
great deal of this. But as far as somebody actually 
sitting down and talking about the shift from the 
oral to the literate, Innis’ magnificent views of the 
bias of communication and how this worked. Innis 
was very much a pioneer, but McLuhan was an 
equal pioneer. They were both founders of what we 
think of as the Canadian communications history 
tradition.