drug that has the power of imposing its assumptions upon 
every level of consciousness. But for us in the 1960s, print has 
much of the quaint receding character of the movie and the 
railway train. In recognizing its hidden powers at this late date 
we can learn to stress the positive virtues of print but we can 
gain insight into the much more potent and recent forms of 
radio and television also.

     In his analysis of books, authors, and markets, Pope, like 
Harold Innis in The Bias of Communication , assumes that the 
entire operation of print in our lives is not only unconscious but 
that for this very reason it immeasurably enlarges the domain 
of the unconscious. Pope placed an owl at the beginning of The  
Dunciad , and Innis entitled the opening chapter of The Bias of  
Communication , “Minerva’s Owl”: “Minerva’s Owl begins its 
flight only in the gathering dusk. . .”