terrible than the “Shakespearean Moment” so well described by 
Patrick Cruttwell in his book of the same title. But it has been 
the business of The Gutenberg Galaxy  to examine only the 
mechanical technology emergent from our alphabet and the 
printing press. What will be the new configurations of 
mechanisms and of literacy as these older forms of perception 
and judgment are interpenetrated by the new electric age? The 
new electric galaxy of events has already moved deeply into the 
Gutenberg galaxy. Even without collision, such co-existence of 
technologies and awareness brings trauma and tension to 
every living person. Our most ordinary and conventional 
attitudes seem suddenly twisted into gargoyles and 
grotesques. Familiar institutions and associations seem at 
times menacing and malignant. These multiple 
transformations, which are the normal consequence of 
introducing new media into any society whatever, need special