Reading McLuhan Reading

Marshall McLuhan is a well-known and influential intellectual of the 20th century, known for his coinages such as 'the Gutenberg era, the 'global village, and 'the medium is the message.' This book focuses on his reading habits and practices, and the larger questions of what reading and not reading mean. New resources offer us an unprecedented opportunity to revisit one fallible human reader whose texts and ideas are good to think with (and against).

Format: Hardback
Length: 166 pages
Publication date: 21 February 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Sixty years after the publication of Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan remains one of the most renowned and influential intellectuals of the twentieth century. Far beyond the confines of academia, readers (and non-readers) recognize his coined terms such as 'the Gutenberg era,' 'the global village,' and 'the medium is the message.' A literary scholar by profession, McLuhan was among the earliest academics to grasp the potential of radio and television to reach audiences beyond the readership of scholarly journals. His lectures and public appearances sparked a public intellectual discourse on the 'electronic age.' While his reputation experienced a decline in the 1970s, the recent public access to his extraordinary personal library of approximately six thousand books offers new avenues for analyzing McLuhan as a reader, thinker, and cultural force. The essays presented herein primarily explore the habits and practices that shaped McLuhan's reading, while also delving into broader questions about the significance of reading and the consequences of not reading. It is not necessary to wholeheartedly endorse every statement made by McLuhan to derive valuable insights from his work. The availability of new resources presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to revisit a fallible human reader whose texts and ideas warrant thoughtful contemplation (and critique). This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Textual Practice.

Weight: 485g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032427638