„Mcluhan Inc.“: Kaip Jam Tai Pavyko?
„McLuhan Inc.“: How Did He Do it?

Summary/Abstract: The changes of Marshall McLuhan’s poetics after publishing „The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man“ are discussed in the paper. The famous media theorist understood from reactions that the reader of the electric age reads in a way completely different from the habits of the classical one. He partially described the new practices of reading by talking about himself: „I read only the right-hand page of serious books. If it is a frivolous, relaxing book I read every word. But serious books I read right-hand only because I’ve discovered enormous redundancy in any well written book. And I find only by reading the right-hand page that this keeps me very wide awake filling in the other page with my own noodle.“ His less known texts, and especially the letters, support this conclusion that could be the definition of reading practices of the electric-age reader, who not only understands but also reacts to readings by his senses. The paper tries to track the trajectories of the new McLuhan, especially those related to the reuse of some genres of antiquity for seeking the same experience by watching TV. The consequences of the new McLuhan poetics are ambiguous. First, he became one of the most cited authors of the 20 century. However, second, as Northrop Frye has stated, McLuhan disappeared as an author. McLuhan sought to make an effective influence on the reader. In that way McLuhan transformed himself into a sort of Mass Media Company.

• Details
• Contents