Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/09079_Field_TCGG T844.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 919b | 16 lines

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. . .”