doing research on his thesis at the Huntington Library in Pasadena, California. Over the objections of Mrs. Lewis, a socially prominent, strong-willed, and staunchly Episcopalian matron who disliked McLuhan as a Catholic, a Yankee, and a man of dubious prospects—academics were poorly paid in that era—the couple married in 1939.
The union was an enduring and basically happy one, producing six children. McLuhan proved less than ideal as a father—he was pre-occupied with his ideas, chronically impatient, and, at times, a stern disciplinarian. Throughout the late ’30s and ’40s, McLuhan also chafed at his low pay and lack of recognition in the intellectual world. Although he published a number of articles in academic journals, they were a fraction of his prodigious output. Moreover, he was restless and dissatisfied with what he regarded as
