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Disital

M;dernism
Making It l,{ewin New Media

IessicaPressman

OXTORD
UNIVEI{SI'IY

PI{L]SS

Oxford Universitv Pressis a departmentof the Universitl'of Oxford.


It furthers the University'.s
objectiveof excellencein research,scholarshif,
antl educationbv publishing rvorldwicle.
()xford Nerv Yrrk
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Irnirgesfronr'llrc l\lcchanicalllridc: I\ilkkne o_lInLlustrialivlan by MarsbirllMcl.uhan
c o p v r i g l tltg s l u \ ( ( i u t l l t I ' r ' tt t t i s s i o t t

For Brad

extreme position in judging their sut


extreme highs and lows,though it ser
people know Mcluhans name and ci
message"-but few actuallvreadhis
as I hope to show, closereadingMc
spective-in particular,'1lrcNlechant
71teGutenbergGalaxy:TheMakingoJ
Media: Ihe ExtensionsoJ'Man(ry6+)u
pretativemethodologyand opensup .
betweenmedia and literary studies.

1. CloseReading
MarshallMcLuhan,from Modernism
to Media Studies

Mcluhan is a Janusfigurebetweer
who transformed "practical criticisr
I will show, in so doing, he pioneered
into its own in the last few decades,
of study (particularlyonesfocusedor
history. This chapter argues that con
back to Mcluhan and, through him,

'it

s i t l r n e \ \ ' t e c h l l o l o g ) ' , , t r t tol tj u s t t h c p i c t L r r lci ' i t l t i nt h c


i s t i r ef r a r n e w o r ki t s e l f t h i rct h i r n g ew
franrel'
! cdirr
M a r s h r l lM c l . u h a n ,l t t t t l c r s t a n l i n M

nizing this fact illuminatesthe contir


culture.

Amidst the hlpe and criticismsurrc

often fbrgotten that he was, Iirst and fr


was trainccl in the New Criticism at C;
MarshallMcluhan, a.k.a.the "Oracleof the IrlectronicAgc" and the "PatronSaint"
of Wired magazine,coitred tl.rcterm "globalvillage,"tirught us that "the meclittm
and cstabis the messagc,"prophesiedthe impact ol'thc clcctronic tcchrr<llogies,
lisheclthe tield that we now call meilia studies.Mcluhan publishedhis grour.rclbreaking bottks in the e;,rrlyr96os,in a perioclof socitrlrevolution,ar.rdachicved
guru and tcchnocultural prophct.'
inrmediate ian.reancl notoriety as a cr.rltr,rral
who becamca householclnatne,and his tacegracetl
He was an English prot-essor
the coversof natiopal tnagazinesaud intemational tclevisionshows;he evendicl
a cameoin a woody Allens Arnie Holl (tgzl),, His nirmc bccamean adjective.
"Mcluhanist" or "McLuhanism" becamea synorD'rnfbr technodeterminisnrand
rhetorical obliqueness.His work briclgeclacademicanclpopulirr irudiences;ltlvcd
and hated by public intellectuals,it has been critiqued and adn-rircd1br challenging conventionalscholarlypracticcs(in particular,the prircticeof eschewir.rg
thesis-drivenargurnent).
citations aqd footnotes,Iet alone a clearly articr"rlated,
lVluchhas been written about Mcluhan over the years(especiallyrecetrtly,since
birth), and thcse writings ustrallytake an
2o1t was the centennialof Mclul-rarr-s

Leavis, and he was deeply influenced

education-in particr.rlar,the appreciat

tice of close reading-as the foundatio

I will argue, he adapted the New Criti


meansfor thinking critically aboutform

did so exposesclose reaclingto be a mo<

media-specificanalysiscan be understo

may sound counterintuitive because,


as

the New Criticism is commonly unders

in the practice of interpreting a literary

challengesthis view of the New Critics l

criticism he Iearnedat Cambridgewasal

egory of the literary within complexme

writings reminds us that rnedia-specifir


a technologicalone.

C l . O S TR
l HADING

ze

through
positionin judging their subject.aHis reputation has seesawed
e)ctreme
highsand lows,though it seemsto be on the upswing thesedavs.tMany
extreme
people
know Mcluhant name and cite his famous mantra--"the medium is the
few actuallyread his works and still fewer close read then.r.But,
message"-but
asI hopeto show closereading Mcluhan! seminal works from a literary perspective-inparticular,The MechanicalBride: Folkloreo.l'lntlustrialMan (ry5r),
TheGutenberg
Galaxy:Ihe Making oJ'Typographicl\4att(1962),and Utrderstonding
o.fMcrn(r964)6-provides invaluablcinsightsitrto his interMedia:TheExtensions
thc-intersection
pretative
methodologyand opensup new avenuesfbr adciressing
mediaand literary stuclies.
between
Mcluhanis a )anusfigurebetweenpast irnd present,a modcrnist New Critic
"practical criticism" into closc reading rnedia fbrms; and,
whotransfbrmecl
I will show,in so doing, he pioneereda field o1study.Media studiesonly came
intoits own in the last few decades,but as is oficn the cirsewith "new" lields
of study(particularlyonesfocusedon "new" media),it lacksa senseof its own
history.This chapterarguesthat contemporarymetlia stucliescan be tracecl
backto Mcluhan and, through him, to modernist writcrs irnd critics. Recognizingthis fhct illuminatesthe continued inlluenceof moclernismrln cligital
culture.
Amidstthe hype anclcriticism surrounclirtgMcLuhanas digitirlprophet,it is
Mcluhan
oftenforgottenthat he was, lirst ancl (bremost,an linglish prof.essor.
wastrainedin the New Criticism at Cambridge uncler L A. Richardsantl F. R.
Leavis,and he rvas dceply influencecl by this experience.Hc lclied on this
education-in pirrticular,the appreciationol nroclcrnistlitcrature irnclthe prircticeof closereading-as the fbundation fbr his criticrrl approach to rnedia. As
I will argue,he adaptedthe New Critical rnethoclof'lbctrsingon form into a
meansfor thinking critically about fbrtns of rnedia.Sustainedattentionto how he
analysis;conversely,
did soexposesclosereadingto be a morle of media-specilic
asa mocleol'closereacling./'lhis
claim
media-specific
analysiscan be understoocl
irs I cxplaineclin this book'sintroduction,
maysoundcounterintuitivebecause,
as rejectingall aspectsof mirteriality
theNewCriticismis commonlyunderstoocl
Mcluhan'stexts
in the practiceof interpretinga literary text. But closereadir.rg
challenges
this view of the New Critics by showinghow the versionof practical
criticismhe learnedat Cambridgervasalwaysabout approachingthe broadercatClose reading Mcl,trl'rans
egoryof the literary within complexnretlia ecologies.n
writingsremindsus that media-specific
analysisis asmuclr a literaryendeavoras
a technologicalone.

30

DIGITAT_N{Ot)tiRNIsN,l

UnderstandingMcluhan

content areinseparableto the point tha


demanding a poetic, indeeda modern

The "medium is the message"is a memorable,alliterativeaphorism that rolls off


the tongue,but what doesit rnean?'llat is not so easyto explainbecauseMcluhan
refusesto do so.His deceptivelyconcisemantra in no way representsa largerbocly
of writing consistingof clear,rational argumentation.His cameo appearancein
Annie Hallpokesfun at the fact that McLuhanis famouslyincomprehensible.
while

To understand his writing, one m!


tention to how it operates.ReadingM

standingin line at the cinema,woody Allens charactergrows increasinglyaggravatedby the man behind him explicatingloudly ancrpompouslyabout Mcluhant
theory of hot and cool metlia. Allen turns arouncland confronts the man, who
then introduceshimself asa profbssorof televisionanclculture at Columbia.Allel
critiques the professor'ssummary of Mcluhar.r anc-lthcn stepsasicleto pull into
the frame none other than Marshall Mcl.uhan himself.As if to literally ,.backup"
Allen'sinterpretation,Mcluhan walks up to the prol'essoranc.lquips, "you know
nothing of my work!" McluhaI.r'sexclamationis more than irn intellectual'.s
fantasty,on the part of Allen'.scharacter;it is actually a self'_cleprecating
comment
whose comic punch line comcs at Mcluhan's expense.I.or, even an lly Lcaguc
professorof mecliastuclicscan completelymisunderstanciMcl.uhan'.swork. His
proseis just that oblique.
I-et me pass along one more humorous story about Mcluha''.s l'amousincomprehensibility,which mecliascholirr Lance Strateshareson his blog. Strate
claimsthat lerome Agel (the proclucerof 'lhe Medium Is thc Mn.s.srrge
anclmarnyof
Mcluhan'.sother,later visual books,too) once tolclhim the fbllowing jot<e:
Q: Did you know that Mcl,uhan'sLlrderstandingMctlitthasbeentranslatecl
into twenty-two lirnguages?
A: Really?Has it beentranslateclinto Englishyet?,
Mcluhan's writing is hard to understandbecauseit is fiagmentedanclhypertextual but alsodenseanclcompact.Like much of the proseby the experimentalmoclernist writers Mcl,uhan aclmired,it clisruptsfbrmal expectations.one might even
call his style "poetic"; he certainly would. His texts clo not fbllow a clear,linear
trajectoryor build toward a singleargument.His argumentsdo not evenfit within
the confinesof a singlecodex but instcadsprawlhypertextuallyacrossnumerous
genresand media fonns-books, essays,
interviews,ancllecturescapture<lin print
and live and recordedperformances.This point is important becauseMcluhan's
provocationsunfurl into argumentsonly fbr the renderwho follows therr recursiverecombinationacrossdiversemcclialbnnats. h.rMcluhau's oeuvre,fbrm a1d

McLuhan writesaboutprint culturew


asI will show,the pagesof his booksex

ture of their argument and pagelayou


he writes, is to focus on "how they ar

technologicalidiot' For the iontent'of


ried by the burglar to distractthe watc

should be the subjectof mediacriticis


mcdia.includingthe press,arcart for

poetry, their own assumptionsl"'Mcl


one akin to art or poetry' As Umberto

frtrm of the messageis the realconten


garde literature and criticism)" (emp
litcratureand criticismdt
avant-garde

Part I. Mcluhan asNew C

Alter graduating from the Universi


Cambridgeunder I' A. Richardsand

neersin the New Criticism' and Cam


Mcluhan was deeplyinfluencedby tt

he developedhis own criticalmethod


essaysof literary criticism,editedby

Literary Criticismof MarshallMcLuh


edgesthe imPact of his Cambridge

beganand remainsrootedin theworl


aswell ashis favoritemodernistwritt

introduced at Cambridge''aIn a lette


"Until I came to the CambridgeEng

boundlessenthusiasmfor greatboo
and Dr LeavishaveProvedto be a u

tude."'5Mcluhan returnedto North


sition at the Universityof Wisconsin

Mcluhan "sawhimself, and sold hil

.FtAI)t-\-(;

3l

contentareinseparableto the point that "reading"Mcluhan is a difficult endeavor


demandinga poetic, indeed a modernist,sensibility.
To understand his writing, one must read the textual content by paying attentionto how it operates.ReadingMcluhan's texts thus requiresclosereacling.
Mcluhan writes about print culture r,r'ithawareness
of thc.book as rnetliurn,and.
asI will show,the pagesof his booksexpressthis fact in the arrangementand struc_
tureof their argumentand pagelayout. "our conventionalresponseto all media,,,
he writes,is to focus on "how they are usecl,"but this "is the 'umb stanceof
the
technological
idiot. For the tontent' of a medium is like the juicy pieceof meatcarriedby the burglar to distract the watchdogof the mind.",,,Form, not just
content,
shouldbe the subjectof media criticism; and media is, after all, tbrnr. .All the new
media,including the press,are art fbrms which havethe power of imposir-rg,
Iike
poetry,their own assumptions.""Mcluhan turns mecliainto an object of
stucl1.,
,.The
oneakin to art or poetry.As Umberto Bco describesMcluhan's nrair"r
insight,
form of the messageis the real contentof thc rnessage
(which is the thesisgf avaltgardeliterature and criticism)" (emphasisin <lriginal).''NIcLul.rallearlctl abou(
avant-garde
literatureand criticisn-rduring his time at CarubriclgeUliversity.

PartI. Mcluhan asNew Critic


After graduating from the University of Manitoba in r9jj, Mcluhan
studieclat
cambridge under I. A. Richarclsand F'.R. Leavis.'iRicharclsanclLcirviswcre
plo_
neersin the Nelv Criticism, and Cambriclgewasa hub of suchinno'r,ativcthinking.
Mcluhan wasdeeplyinlluencedby this cxperienceanclrelied on this eciucatrou
rrs
he developedhis own critical mctl.rodanclpath. hr a fbreworclto a collection
ol'his
.llte
essaysof literary criticisrn,editcd by EugeneMcNamara,Irtcrior Lotrdscapes:
Literarycriticism oJMarshallNIcLuhan(rs6s), Mcl,uhan retrospecrivelyircknowledgesthe impact of his cambridge education.He writes, "My study o1'media
bcganand remainsrooted in the work of thesemen,"meaningRichardsand Lc,avis
aswell as his f-avoritemodernist writers (pound, joyce,and Eliot) to whom he
was
introducedat cambridge.'4In a letterdatedDecemberrz, 1935,McLuhan
writes,
"until I cameto the cambridgeE'glish Schoor,my principle
qualilicatio' was a
boundlessenthusiasmfor great books,gr.eatevents,and great men. Dr Richarcls
and Dr Leavishaveproved to be a useful supplement.nrl correctiveto that
attitude:"tMcluhan returnedto North Americain 1936,takinghis lirst teaching
position at the university of wisconsin. In the words of biographerGlenn willmott,
Mcluhan "saw himself, and sold himsell, as a representativeof the New critical

32

DIGI-fAt N{OI)F.RNISM

avant-garde:"6Mcluhan inherited from the New Critics a particular view of the


'lhis
view sawthe
role of literature,the literary imagination,and literary analysis.

privilegesvision over his other senses

The goal
distinction betweenpoetry and criticism, poet and critic, asunnecessary.

embodiment of interpersonalinteract

of poet and critic is to challengeconventionsanclteirchthe rest <lfthe world to see

fiom the holistic sensibilitiesof multise

fiom a new perspective.

print fostersa lixed point-of-viewratht

a great technoculturaltransMcluhan saw himself as a critic-seerwitr.ressing

crete,and linear, alphabetictext ofprir

ports ideologiesof individualismover

formation. The emergenceof electrictechnologies,he thought,wirscomparableto

ciple of Gutenbergtechnologybecome

the revolution produced in the fifteenth and sixteenthcenturiesby the invention

most obviouscharacterof print is repet

of the printing press.'Iheelectricirgeof radio ar.rdtelevisionwould, hc was con-

is hlpnosis or obsessionl"iOr, ashe mr


"The invention of typographyconfirm

vinced, similarly transfbrm the ways in which we read, write, irnd think. Within
this period of massivemedial shift, Mcluhan sawhimself poised,in the languagc
Ezra Pound usesto describcthe role of the artist, as "the antennaeof the race."'7

applied knowledge,providing the first

Mcluhan writes, in words that echo Pounds,"lts alwaysbeen the artist who per-

nology are only becomingvisibleto us

ceivesthe alternatior.rs
in man causedby a new rneclia,who recognizesthat the
future is the present,ancluseshis work to prc'pirrethe ground tbl'it."'nMcl-uhirnin-

the rnidst of transitioningawayfrom a I


Whereas "previous technologiesu

herited fiom his teachers,the modernistsanclNew Critics, a senseof urgencyand

writes, "the electricis total andinclusiv

responsibilityas a critic. He sawhis purpose iu peclagogical


terrrts,as :r Romantic

argues,usher in the dawn of a new era..

his ec.lbard translatingthe poet'srecognitionto :r broadcraudience.He clescribes


"a
"Richards,
Lcavis,
I',liot
ancl
Poitncl
ancl
ucationat Carnbridgeas shock"because

lowing statement,taken from TheMed


(t962): "The irlphabetanclprint techno

foycein a t'ewweeksopenedthe cloorsof pcrccptionon the poetic process,and its


'lhe
role in acljustingthe readerto thc contempclraryworlcl."''
impact of this educa-

ing process,a processofspecialismand


ters and encouragesunilication and ir

fbr it was at Cambridgethat Mcluhan leamecl


tion shoulc'lnot be underestirnated;

sense,promote a return to an earliere

supto seehow Iiterary stuclycoulclhavereal-worldrelevance.f his untlerstandir.rg

global village."McLuhan writes,'bur ag

porteclMcLuhanashe rcfashionedliteriirycliticismitrto tnediastudics.

ditory modes becauseof the electronic

McLuhan'sMedia'Iheory
Mcluhan presenteda mcdia-birsed
theory o{'history,and it goessomethinglike

assembly-line,and the first mass-prod

of electric techrrologiespromiseto uni


reason,he writes, "the greatestofall rev
sequenceby making things instantl"s

For the purposesof my argument,il

and unifbrmity into the productiorrof


this: the printir-rgpressintroducedrepetitior.r

identilied the decisivehistorical mom

textsand, in so doing, made rcpetition anclunilbrmity the comt-rstonesof humirtr


experience."Homogeneity,unifbrmity, rcpeatability"are,accordingto McLuhan,

history he writes as taking placein the

the result of a print-basedsociety."The technologyo1'printingpressbuilds words

experiencean emergingelectronicmed

fiom indiviclualletter blocks in an assernbly-linernanner,and the resultsof this

tion, but this technologicalfact wasim1

Mcluhan arguesthat tl.reyarc felt cieepll'


technologicalprocessarc c\rer-present.

Mcluhan clilimed that modernistlitera

and psychicallyat the indir.idual level and also in the culture at large.He writes,
"from the invention of the alphabettherehas beena continuouscirivein the West-

ing the rnedial shift to the electronica

ern world toward the separationof the senses,of functions,of operations,of states
'Ihe
resulting "tlpographic Man"
of emotions and politics, as rvell as of tasks.""

phasisin original).'eModernistliteratu

decadesof the nineteenth century an

instant total awareness,


suddenlyannou

simultaneousaffectof technoloqical
inn

C I , O S ER I ] A D I \ G

11

pdvileges
vision over his other sensesand readsin silent isolation the static,discrete,
andlinear,alphabetictext of print. Typographicman forgoesthe real-time
embodiment
of interpersonalinteraction ascribedto oral culturesand is cut o11
fromtheholisticsensibilitiesof multisensorl'comnrunication.In McLuhan'sview
printfostersa fixed point-of-view rather than a senseof sirnultaneity;it thus supportsideologiesof individualism over tribal connection." The mechanicalprincipleof Gutenbergtechnologybecomesa stateof being and a way of seeing:"the
mostobviouscharacterofprint is repetition,just as the obviouseffcctofrepetition
ishlpnosisor obsessionl"rOr, as he more clearlyexplainsthe causalconnections,
"Theinventionof typography confirmeclirnd extendedthe new visual stressof
appliedknorvledge,providing the lirst unifbnnly lepeatableconrmodity,the hrst
assembly-line,
and the first mass-production."'a
the repercussionsof print technologyare only becorningvisible to us now, Mcl.uhan irrgues,becausewe are in
themidstof transitioningawayfiom a print-basedcultureanc.linto an electricage.
Whereas"previous technologieswere partial and fiagmentarv,"Mcluhan
writes,"the electricis total and inclusive."'5
Electronictechnologiesthus,Mcl-uhan
argues,
usherin the dawn of ir new erir.McLuhan'.s
thesisis summarizedin the fbl"lhe
lorvingstatement,taken l'rom
Medium ls the Nlossagc:
An Inyt,rttrtryoJ'fficts
(t967):"The alphabetanclprint technologyfbstereclirnd encouragccla fragmentingprocess,a processof specialismanclof detachmcnt.Irlectronictcchnologyfbs'Ihesc
tersand encouragesunification and invoh'ement."'6
new media, in some
sense,
promote a rettlrn lo atr eurlier era, ()rlc inclined torvardthc tribal t>r "the
'bur
globalvillagei'Mcluhan writes,
agetranslatesitselfbackinto the oral and au'Ihc
ditorymodesbecauseof the e.lectronic
pressureo1'simultaneityl"r elncrgencc
of electrictechnologiespromise to unify man ancl reconnectmankind. For this
reason,he writes,"the greatestof all reversalscrccurrcdwith electricity,that encled
sequence
by making things instant."'8
For the purposesof my argurnent,it is important to recognizethat Mcl.uhan
identified the decisivehistorical moment of this reversal in thc media-basecl
history he writes as taking place in the modemist period. Not only did the late
decadesof the nineteenth century and early clecirdesof the twerrtiethcentury
experiencean emergingelectronicmediatizirtion,as I suggestedin my introduction, but this technologicalf'actwas imprir.rtedand expressedin that period'sart.
Mcluhan clairnedthat modernist literatureand art hold the keysto r.rnderstanding the rnedial shift to the electronicage."Cubisrl," he declares,"by seizingon
instanttotal awareness,
suddenlyannouncedthat f/rcmediutnis the message"
(enphasisin original)." Modemist literatureanclart trirnslatedthe instantar.reous
and
simultaneousaflectof technologicalinnovirtions(suchasraclio,the telegraph,and

'tontinuairplanes)into artistic expressions,


including Cubistart, GertrucleStein's
ous present,"and cinematic montage.r('"The printed book etrcouragedartists to

Mcluhan took part in theseped

mother (from Cambridgein 1935)wit.

reduce all forms of expressionas much as possibleto the single descriptiveand


narrative plane of the printed worlcl,"Mcluhan lvrites; "The advent of electric

covery" Richardssupposedlymadetl

media releasedart frorn this straitjacketat once,creatingthe world of Par.rlKlee,

vated tastemight hit the niril most of '

Picasso,Braque,Eisenstein,the Marx Brothers,and Jamesloycel't'McLuhanposits

many things in a volumeby onewriter

modernism as a period of media revolution,the origin of our modern media age.


He built his theory of rnediaupon this understandingof modemism,an uncler-

feelingsare permitted to permeatethr


(emphasisin original).38
Althoughhe

standingcultivatedat Cambridgeuuder Richirrclsand Leavis.

one can draw from the experiment(w

the method of giving onepoem of an)

expresseswillingnessto considerhon

Adaptingthe NewCriticism

He wc
constitutea literary experience.
mnlly in pursuing different rvaysof "1

The particular tlpe o1'New Criticism that Mcl.r.rhanleamecland aclapteclwas

clifl'erentangles"to produce a sense(

PracticalCriticism. ln t9z9 RichardspublishedPracticalCriticism:A Studyh Lit-

rather than examinepoetry,Mcluhan

erary Judgmenfand pioneereda new .rplrroachto the critical readir.rgof poetry.

tou'ard analyzingmedia.

Richardsattemptedto providefbr litcrirry studiesa kind of scientificmethoclologv


and he introduced his g<lalsfor his book in clecidecllyscientificrhetoric: to "in-

book, Principlesttf Literary Criticism

troduce a new kind of documentationl'"ztnew technique,"


ancl"to preparethc way

Principlesof Literary Criticism opens

for educationmethods more e,[ficientthan thosewe usenow" (enrphasisadded).r'


'lhe
book containsdocumentationfiom a seriesot'stucliesRicharcls
conclucterl

chine to think with."r'qThe sentencec

in his classroom,effortsto reconsicler


the method of teachingliterarycriticism.

is a machine to think with, but it nee

In thesenow-fhmouspedagogicalexperiments,Richardsgavehis studentspoems

of the bellows or o1'thelocomotivel'

strippeclof common indicators used to identify, locate,ancl ascertainthe value

becomethe comerstonework in the f

of a text, rvaysof assigningvalue passcddown fionr tl'teltcllc-lettrisiccclucirtion

irrds suggestsa need fbr comparativet

of old: author'sname and poem'stitlc. Canonicirland noncirnonicalpoerrs were

ship betweenn.rediaforms asa means

mixed together,and studentswere asked to irnalyzeancljudge the texts befbre


them. Ricl.rards
then compiledhis stuclents'responses
into a "recorclo1'apieceol'

Criticism proceedsfrom the foundat

PracticalCriticismwas"a compan

Iessoften, and the quotation ir.rits lon

heid-work in comparativeiclcologyl"rThe result:"On the wholc it is tairly salc to

analysisand that this comparative


m
"What
writes.
is
the
va
tion." Richards

assertthat the poemsreceivedmuch more thorough stuclythan, shallwe say,rnost

clevotion of the keenesthours of the

anthology piecesget in the ordinar,vcoursei'-'+


By stripping away the historical

That
system of human endeavors?"{'

context,Richardsturneclhis students'tbcusto the poem itsell'.IUchirrcls


clescribes

untouched"in the annalsof Wester

the experimentas promotingawarencss


that a poem\ succcss
lies in its abilityto
communicatehow it rvorks, not just what it comrnunicates.He writes, "poetry

PracticalCriticism,Richardssoughtto

comparatively by consideringit as a 1

itselfis a rnode of communication.What it communicatesand how it doesso and

guageand specihcmedia forms.Thin

the worth of rvhatis cornmunicated


fbrm the subject-matter
of criticism."r'Pr(1cfical CriticismsupportsRichards'slarger ambition, "to provide ir new techniquefor

poetics but alsoto other forn'rsof cult

thosewho wish to discoverfor themselveswhat they think and feel about poetry
(and cognatematters)and why they shouldlike or clislikeit. ru

suggests,will have the efTectof mak

itself as an applied science,"he writes

tisement may be profitablewithout nr

(.t_()stt{LrAI)tN(; 35

Mcluhan took part in these pedagogicalexercises.He wrote home to his


'great'
mother(from Cambridgein rg35)with an air of skepticisn about "the
dis"I
covery"Richardssupposedlymade through them.r'- have some doubts about
'A
themethodof giving ofle poem of any person as a test,"he writes; really cultivated
tastemight hit the nail most of the time, but uncultivateclpeoplecan enjol'
manythingsin a volumeby one writer, where the merits of his craft and ideasand
feelings
arepermittedto permeatethe consciousness
lrom rooo dillerent angles"
(emphasis
in original).38
Although he had his reservationsabout the conclusions
onecandrawfrom the experiment(which are,incleed,valid criticlues),Mcluhan
expresses
willingnessto considerhow different data sourcesanclcircuits o1'flow
constitute
a literaryexperience.He n'ould later,rvewill soclnsee,experimentfirrpursuing
mallyin
different ways of "permeat[ing] the consciousness
tiom rooo
angles"to prodrtce a senseof simultar.reityin critical prose.Although,
diflerent
rather
thanex:rminepoetry, Mcl.uhan woulclapply his skills in practicalcriticisrn
towardanalyzingmedia.
Practical
Criticistttwtrs"a cornpanionvolumel'asRichardscalleclit, to his tirst
book,PrinciplesoJ Literary Criticisnt 0Sz+). The pref'aceto the rgz8 eclition of
Principles
oJLiterary Criticism opens with an oft-cluoteclline, "A book is a rnachineto think rvithl'r'The sentencecontinues,althoughits secontllralf is citecl
'A
book

lessoften,and the quotation in its longer form afl'ectecl


young Mcl.uhan.

isa machineto think with, but it neednot, thereforc,usurp the lunctionseither


of thebellowsor ol'the locomotive."r"In the openinglines to a text that woulcl
the cornerstonework in the lielcllater known as literary criticism, Richbecome
mec-liastudies,lbr consicleringthe relatit>nardssuggests
ir needfbr comparartive
shipbetween
media{bnns asa meansof pursuingcriticism.Principle
s o.fLiterary
Criticismproceeclsfiom the fbundation that a comparativemode is cer.rtralto
"The central tluesand that this comparativemodc is olier.rnepilectecl.
analysis
tion,"Richarclswrites, "What is the value of the arts,and why are they worth the
devotion
of the keenesthours of the best minds, anclwhat is their plircciu the
system
of human encleavors?"{'
That question,Richarclslirments,"is lcft alnrost
untouched"in the annals of Western critical thought.l' Ilut with Principlcsantl
Practical
Criticism,Richardssoughtto pavcthe wiry fbr othersto approachpoctry
comparatively
by considering it as a form of cornmunication thtt enrployslan'Ihinking
comparativelyabout poetry, Richards

guageand specilicmedia forms,

suggests,
will have the ellect of making literary criticism reievantnot only to
poetics
but alsoto other fbrms <lfculturalcommunication."Criticismwill justily
itselfas an applied science,"he writes, "when it is able to indicatc how irn advertisementrnaybe prolitablewithout r.recessarily
bcing crass."rl
Success
in literarv

36

DtC}ITAT_MODURNISTII

criticism dependsupoll an ability to explain how a text works, not only what it
says.As we will soon seerMcluhan takes Richardsat his word in this regard.In
his first book, 7re MecltanicalBride: Folkbre of Industrial Mon e951, Mcluhan
showsthe virlueof literarl'criticism by closereaclingadvertisementsto shgrvhon,
they work.
But beforewe return to Mcluhan, we must first attendto tire other leading
figure at cambridge who also greatly influenceclhim: F'.R.Leavis.Leavis also
practiceda lbrm of Practicalcriticism, but in waysthat distinguishedhim from
other New critics and establishedhim as a particularlyirnportant mentor lbr
the young Mcluhan. ln How to TbachReading:A prinrcr
(ry32),
-for l:zra pt>uncr
Leavispays attention and tribute to Pound as critic, which Mcluhan woukl
follow suit in doing. Leavisbeginsthat book by statingthat pound'slrow to Reatl
(1929)"has,one hopes,heenwidely read"fbr "its value"lies ir.rthe fact that "it is
a thing to quarrel with."4'1
Grappling with Pouncl'ssuggestionsabout horv-ancl
more so wlty-to reaclit.t a world thirt lacks a (lorntnon Readcror reading list is
important, Leirvisclaims, for "l.iterary history pursueclin this spirit rvill be very
different fiom the usual accunrulationof cleadanclcleadeningknowleclgeabout
authorsand periods."+s
Leirvisdescribesand disdainsthe current stateof literary studieswherein "we have,passinglbr an eciucated
interestin literature,the
elegantcult . . . of ltelleslcttrcs."a6
Insteadol'trying to readevcrythinglabeledas
irnportantby someoneelsc,Leavis"recomrnendIs]closcanalyticstudy of a fbw
poemsof eachof the authorsin questionl'ot
Suchellbrtsin fbcusecl,
c/osereac-ling
will open up literary stucly,Leavissuggests,enablingliterary study to go beyond
reaclingonly thosetexts.Incleed,suchpracticewill eventranslatethesecritical,
closereac'ling
skills to nontextuillobjects.Leavisclaimsirs nruch in the conclusion to How to TeachRcading,stating that "a serious concerl) lor eclucationin
readir.rg
cannol stop at reading";anclthen, "Practicalcriticisntof literatureptust
be associatedwith training in arwareness
of the environment,-aclvertising,the
cinema,the press,architectureand so on, tbr, clearly,to the pervasivccountcrinfluence of this environment the literary training of sensibilityin school is an
inadequatereply.Hcre is raisedthe rvholequestiolrof tl'rcrelirtionof readilg to
education and culture"asThe "closeanalytic study of a l'ewpoems,"thirt is, close
reading,is a bridgeto readinglargerculturalenvironments.'lhisis onc-of Leavis's
main points and one that significar.rtlvimpacts McLul.ran'.s
own developmept.ts
a critic.
Zooming out from a few poems to the culture irt large su(gcsts
thc rmpclrtance,exigency,and even moral certitude of the analltical act. This connection betweenrvholeanclp'.rrt,cultural and objectof sturly,edtrcationanclckrse

reading, permeatesand undergirdsI


openirrg of Culture and the Etwiron
Thompson survey the situationof I
world:

ManY teachersof Englishwho


of training tasteand sensibilitY
rloubts' What etfcct catr such

counterinfluences--films,nev
world outside the classroom?
ar
educationlook so desPerate
ever before; fbr in a world o
rapiclly-it is on literarytradit
must rest.4e

t
Leavisand ThomPsonacknowledge
Iengesthis "whole world" of "film' ne

Itr rcsponseto this new and massme<


andI
erary training. McLuhan agrees,
in l.eirvisand Thompson'swords"'the

look so desperatel'Mcluhans innov


its critical readingPractices(i'e'' clo
works)-can servethe new media'el

Mcl-uhan dePartsfrom Leavisin I


with Leavisl'McLuhanwritesin a let
important rvork forbiclshim to look I

clailytable."t"In other words,Leavisr


han learnedfiom his New Critic tea
thing other than "romanticrebellion

stupiclityl's'WhereasLeavisand Thc
of I
dote to the passivcconsumption

ln increasin
ing (scrving"against")
to
seesthe relationship be synergi
and, specifically,the ability to closeI

ronnent but situatedsquarelywithi


the ae
adjust, and even aPPreciate
oller a way of understandingthis en

or other theoristsinspiredby mode


thetics as an outpost tiom capitali

( ] L o S F ,I t I i A I ) I N ( i

1J

permeatesand undergirds Leavis'sapproachto arnalysis.


Consiclerthe
reading,
of Culture and the Environment(1933),in which Leavisand Denys
opening
survey the situation of literary studies in a modern, mediatized
Thompson
world:
Many teachersof English who have becomeinterestedin the possibilities
of training tasteand sensibilitymust havebeentroubled by accornpanying
doubts.What effect can such training have against the n-rultitudinous
counterinfluences-films, newspapers, advertising-incleecl the whole
world outside the classroom?Yet the very cor.rditionsthat make iiterary
educationlook so desperatcare thosewhich make it morc in-rportantthan
ever before; fbr in a world of this kind-ancl a worlcl tl.ratchangesso
rapidly-it is on literary traditior.rthat the ofhcc of t-r.raintaining
continuity
mustrest.le
Leavisand Thompsonacknowledgethe changingmecliallandscapeanclthe chirllenges
this "whole world" of "fiIm, newspapers,aclvertising"poseto literary study.
In response
to this new and massmedia,they asscrtthe continr.recl
relevanceof literarytraining.Mcluharl agrees,and he reliesupon his literary training to explirin,
in Leavisand Thompson'swords,"the very conclitionsthat rnakeliterary education
lookso desperate."
Mcluhan's innovation is to show how a "literary cclucrrtion'its criticalreadingpractices(i.e.,closereading)and objectsof stucly(i.e.,literary
works)-can servethe new media,electronicmonrent.
Mcluhan departsfrom Leavisin his method ol-pursuit."C)1'course
the trouble
"is
with Leavis,"Mcluhan writesin a letterdatedfiom r944, that his passior.r
fbr the
importantwork forbids him to look fbr the sun in the cgg-tarnishedspoonso1'the
dailytable."u'In other words,Leaviswirstoo highbrow in his fcrcusclfstucly.Mcl,uhanlearnedfiom his New Critic teachersthat the stuclyof poeticscoulclbe somethingother than "romantic rebellionagainstmechanicalindustry anclburcilucratic
Leavisand Thompsonposition literary criticisrn as irn antistupidity:'s'Whereas
doteto the passiveconsumptionof modern rnassculture,a mearlsof counteracting (serving"against")an increasinglymediatizcdcultural environment,McLuhan
seesthe relationshipto be synergisticrather than irntagor.ristic.
Literary analysis
and,specifically,the ability to closeread is not positionedagainstthc medial environment but situatedsquarelywithin it. It can serveto teachthe reirderto irccept,
adjust,and even appreciatethe aestheticsof the modern techr.rokrgicirl
irgeand
offera way of understandingthis environment.In contrastt<lthe FrankfurtSchool
or other theoristsinspiredby modcrnist literatureanclliterary theory who sirwaestheticsas an outpost from capitalismand the commodificirtionol'consciousness,

38

Dr(ilTALr\,roDfiRNrsM

Mcluhan takesthe New Critical practiceof isolatinga text lbr analyticalexplica-

TheMechanicalBride:McL

tion in anotherdirection-as a way of readingthe mediatizedmoment.


Mcluhan learnedfiom Leavisto asserta larger purpose for literary criticism.
In an essaypublished in ry44 in The SewaneeReview,a publishing pillar of the
New Criticism, Mcluhan (then signing his name H. M. rather than the fullfledged"Marshall") distinguishesbetweenRicharcls(anclhis lbllowers)and l-eavis
in their incliviclualapproaches.Mcl.uhan
basedon the moral purpose expressecl
describesRichardsas an astuterhetoricianwho analyzesthe specificinstanceof a
literary moment anclthus reinl'igoratesthe critical enterprise,while Leavisolfers
a larger,ethical purpose in and through his criticisn-r."As he puts it in a letter
home to his mother (while still Richards'studentat Cambridgein 1935),Mcluhirn
writes, "Richirrdsis a humanist who regarclsall experienceas relotiveto certain
conditionsof life" (emphasisin original); this point-of-view McLuhan conclucles,
is "such ghastly atheisticnonsensc'lttIn contrirst,Mcluhirn lvrites of Leavis,in
his essayfor The SewaneeRevietv,"his rncthod is that of an artistic evaluation
which is inseparablefrom the excrciseof a delicatelypoiscd moral tactl"u Specilically,Mcluhan claims,"the method of Leavishas superior relevanceto that of
Richardsand Empson becitrsehe h:rsmore clearlyenvisagednot only the way in
which a proemfunctions, but the function of poetry as well."" Litertrry criticisrn
solely
and the methoclof closcreaclingassociatedwith it should not be c'nrployecl
but should aspireto adclress
to explicatean individual poen.r,Mcl.uhan suggests,
the larger rolc of Poetry,rvith a crrpitalP.Mcl-uhan took from l-cavisthe scnseoi'
perfbrming moral duty through literary criticism, of seeiugcritical analysisas an
'proopportunity to help establish"the index to the moral qualitv in the agethat
duced'the poems" and thus enlightcn that qurrlityof the prescntirgc.j6
convertto Certholicisuri
he wirsa believer,
Mcluhan was a recntand cledicirted
irnd his sociallyconservativebeliefsinspired his learning at Cambridge ancl his
criticism throughout his life. This connectionmight not bc imnrcdiatclyvisiblc in
the content of his prose,presentations,arld interviews,lrut the confidenceof his
certituclcinfbrrrrsthe
religiousbeliefsinfusc'shis work anclworking persona.5:'lhis
way McLuhan refusesto acloptthe traditionally staicltone of acadcmiccriticism.
He strivesnot fbr objectivity irnd critical distance,nor doeshc deign to appropliate the cautiousand careful tone of the scholar.He opts irtsteacifbr declaration
and prophecv,leavir-rgreaclersancl listenersto either acccptor rejcct his claims,

is ha
Mcluhans styleof mediastudies
narrative
claimed the death of grand
by Mct
of media evolution presented
supplantet
Frie<lrichKittler, has been
of the et
forms. C)neneed only think
Mcluhan doesr
vital {ield of study'5e
anyin
he is not attunedto examining
He sets
ell'ectson literary aesthetics'
gen(
more
atrd understandingmedia
tandtngMedia)'Thispat
book, UnrJers
titleol
Critical origins;just recallthe
t
virontneri. But Mcluhan's method
readin
aclaptingand practicing close
Criticism
of the tendencyirr the New
indebtedn
s
Mcl'uhan
isolationisnr.6o
moclernismare mt
literary
cism ancl
Man'
Bride: Folkloteof lndustrial
'llrc
Methanicoltsridcshowshow 1

inf.luenti
to assesssomeof the most
to a pat
The books title is an allusion
Evcn(r9r5Bnrt by ller Baclu'lors'
goalto purstrccriticismby con
arr{s's
pra
Mct.uhan introduceshis critical
are'hc wr
rrnclproccsses"that lbllow
Mcluhan thus
lanclscapel'6'
a sir-rgle
book is a
ing a creativepr'rrsuit'His
"processl'Mcluhan then proceeds
them;i
cxamplesand explicationsof
"are intendcdmerely
['rtrtidcasthat
po
worcl "probes"to describethese

and ProsestYletheYconstitute'
Mcluhan is often quotedasdec

lluenceon media theoristsis irrefutable,and it seemshieh time to recousiclerhis

His manner of PresentingProvoc


mcnt or a cohesivethcorYechoes
wt
I n ' A R e t r o s p e c (t "r 9 r l ) ' P o u n d

work, its influence,and also its origins.ss

pilrture.It may startlea dull read

and many choosethe ltrttcr.Yet,in our own moment, wherein the electric age is
becorningdigital, many of N{cl.uhan'spropheciesseen to be coming true. His in-

ci_()s|Rlt.{l)tN(; -19

Bride:Mcluhans EmergingStyle
TheMechanical
Mcluhanssfyleof mecliastudiesis hardly rccognizableto us no$'.Postmodemisrn
claimedthe death of grand narratives,and thus the style of sweepingnarratives
of mediaevolutionpresentedby Mcluhan, and later by ElizabethL,isensteinand
FriedrichKittler, has been supplantedby a rigorous analysisof individual media
forms.One need only think of the emergenceof nrecliaarchaeologyas a recent,
Mcluhan does not carefirllyanalyzespecificmedia fbrmats;
vitalfield of study.se
heis not atturledto examiningany indivi<lualtbrm of technolog,vor its p'.rrticular
effectson literary aesthetics.He setshis sightswider-on the goal of analyzing
andunderstandingmedia more generally(hence thc title of his grounclbreaking
Media).This panoramicperspectiveis adaptedfrom his New
book,Understanding
Criticalorigins;just rccall the title of l.eavisanclThompsodsCultureand the Environment.But Mcluhan's method of using literature to read culture works by
adaptingand practicir.rgclose reading in ways that also ofl'erirn implicit critique
of thetendencyin thc New Criticisrn to useformalism to push towirrdintellectuarl
isolationism.6"
Mcluhan'.sindebtedr.rcss
to and activcaclaptationof the NervCriti'llre
cismand literary moclernismare n)ost eviclentin his hrst book,
Mcchanicol
Bride:Ft>lklore
of IndustrialMan.
TheMechanicalBride showshow practicalcriticism can be aclaptedantl :rppliecl
to assess
someof the rnost inllucr.rtialtexts fiom pol.rularculture:irdvertisernents.
Thebook'stitle is an allusionto a painting by Marcel l)uchirmp, TheBrideStrippad
Bareby LIer Bachelors,Even (t9r5-z.t), and it suggestsan alignnrer.rtwith Richards's
goalto pu15uscriticism by con.rpirrir.rg
art acrossmecliaforn.rs.In his prethcc,
'bbjccts
Mcluhan introduceshis criticalprrrcticein clistinctlyartistictcrms:thc
that tbllow are,he writes,"unlbldeclby exhibit and commentaryas
andprocesses"
a singlelandscape."t"
Mcluhan thus beginshis book of culturirl criticism by clairn'bbjcct"
ing a creativepursuit. His book is an artistic
ancla creativeapproachor
"process."
Mcl.uhan then proceedsnot by declirringa thesisand proving it using
of them;instead,hc aclnitsto sccking"not conclusions"
examples
and explications
"are
intended merely as points of departure."o'He will later use the
but ideasthat
word "probes"to describethesepoints of dcparturcand alsothe criticalmethod
andprosestylethey constitute.
'l
Mcluhan is often quotedas declaring, DON'l' ITXPLAIN-/ I EXPLORE:'"'
His manner of presentingprovocativeideasrather than proving a rational argument or a cohesivethc-oryechoesEzra Pouncl'sview of what criticism should be.
In'A Retrospect"(r913),Poundwritesthat criticism"providesfixedpointsof departure.It may startlerrdull readerinto alcrtness.lhat little of it rvhich is sood is

40

l)lC;l-IALM()l)lrRNls\l

mostly in strayphrases."6+
McLuhan useshis probesfor preciselythis purpose.As
a result'his criticisrnstrivestolvardthe poetic.He clearlydifferclltiateshis practice
from the norm. "This is an approach,"he writes in IJnrjerstatttling
Meflia, "which
it is hard to make clear at a time when most books offer a singleidea as a rneans
of unifying a troupe of observzrtions."6'
contemporary criticism ref.lectsthe larger
constraintsof print culture,asMcluhan scesit, wherein typographicman expects
a singleidea per book and expectsthat idea to be presentedin a clear,linear fashion presentedchronologicallyfrom pageone onwarc'ls.
McLuhan chirllengesthese
conventions'He seeksto def-amiliarize
tl'reformal expectationsof literary criticisrn
and to exposethe larger constraintsand ideologicirlforcesinfbrming the practice.
To put it anotherway,Mcluhan pursuesirn avant-garcle
approachto writing literary criticism. The resultsare prose texts that requirc a rcaderl,vresponsetlerived
fiom readingavant-gardemodernist poetry-that is, closereading.
Mcluhirn's probes,exhibits,and plscsss4sare intended to prornote slorvand
careful closereading.'A whirling phantasmagoriacan be graspeclonly lvhen arrestedfbr contemplation,"Mcluhan writes, 'And this very arrestis also a relcase
from the usual participation."('('
The irrresteclstateol'conternplatiol, the slow ar.rd
careful attention paid to a text, is not, Nlcluhirn clirims,the "usualparticipation'
of readers,but it is necessaryfbr understanclingthe world of the elcctric.Mcluhan
demonstrates
this reac{ing
practiceirr the pagesot'TlteMechauicalllricle.Fronrits
first pages,TheNlechanicalBride presentsa pedagogicalellbrt to train relders to
seehow advertisementswork, how they operatefbrmally to proclucecertain eft-ects."Why not use the new commercialcducationas il lncansof cnlighteningits

Mechan
N'lcl.uhan,'lhe
frigr.r lvlarshall
with
zoozIrqsrl,uo-ttr.)l{eprinted
Press,

a sirnil:rr fttnction as Mcluhan's"ex


practical criticism through example

vertisementsand books,which arethr


Leavisand Thompsonexplain,"the e

intended prey?"6;He closereadsthe culturrll artit'actsof massculture,aclvertisements,in order to teachothersto critically read the worlcl arountl them.

suggestedexercises,bringing homet
this methodology by applyingit to n

TheMechanicalBride proccedsasa sericsof "exhibitsl'The pagesprescntaclver-

culture and incorporatingthesevisu


Mcluhan does not limit himself

tisementsextractedfrom magirzines,movie posters,and newspaperpagesas textual objectsfor closereading.Theseirnagesareintroducedby provocativeprobes,


questionsor statemelltsprintecl in larger lbnt, alongsiclea lirrge cluestionmirrk.
The suggestionsof bullet-pointcclquestionslian-rethc image and the c,xplication of them that follows.'Ihe paragraphsof textualexplicationthirt surror"rndthe
imageshow Mcluhan addressingthe probcs,albeitobliquely,as he clqsereadsthe
image(seeFigurer.r).The structureof presentatioll
resonates
rvilh the peclagogical style of practical criticism that Mcluhan lcarneclfiorn Richarcls's
classroon.r
experiments,wherein studentswere askedto analyzca text at-handwithour suppiemerrtiuyexplanatorymaterials.11repage layout ol' TheMeclratricaltsritle also
registersthe influenceof Cultureand Environmenf,which doesnot useirnagesbut
is structuredaround what Leavisand'Ihompson call "e-xarnples"
anclwhich serve

dressestheir visual design.In LeavisI


suggested,but in Mcluhan's it is ma

above,M
sicleof the pagepresentecl
c
argumentabout the advertisement
stallion and sweetkid?" and "The G

in a
title of the exhibit is "rvVoman
explainshis title by comparingthe

source:"This ad emPloYsthe sameI


vi
han goesor-rto describePicasso's

tion and contrast" and then claims


pha
oppositionof the cool elements,

(ll ()Sil RhADIN(i

4l

ra

////////412a

Brida:Folklore
of lndustrialMrur.((iingko
Figr.r MarshallMcl.uhan,TheMechatical
ofthepublisher.
zoozfrgsr],go-ttr.)l{eprintecl
withpernrission
Press,
a similarftrnction as Mcluhan'.s"cxhibitsl' Culture nnd Environndnf pursuesits
practicalcriticism through examplestaken fiom popular culture,(luotesfrom adof them.
vertisements
and books,which arethen fbllowedby analltical cliscussions
'examples'-i.e,
Leavisand Thompsonexplain,"the expositionis largelyby wtryof
McLuhan expandsnpon
exercises,bringing home the point at issue."68
suggested
this methodologyby applying it to non-textualobjectsof study taken from mass
cultureand incorporating thesevisual objectsinto the pngesofhis book.
Mcluhan does not limit himself to the text containeclir.rthe ads but irlso :rcl'lhompson's
text, the visuirlirspectis only
dresses
their visual design.In Leavisanci
but in Mcluhan's it is manif'estand central.For example,on the verso
suggested,
sideof the pagepresenteclabove,Mcluhan lists cluestionsthat subtly presentarn
argumentaboutthe advertisement
containcdon the rectoside(e.g,,"Justarnother
stallionand sweetkid?" and "'fhe Greeksmanagethesemattersin myths?").The
title of the exhibit is "Woman in a Mirror," and the frrst line of Mcl.uharis text
explainshis title by comparing the advertisementto an unexpectedmodenrist
source:"This ad ernploysthe sametechniclueas Picassoin'fhe Mirror."6'McLuhan goeson to describePicasso's
visual practiceo1'operatingthough "juxtaposition and contrast" and then claims that irclmen pursue a similar strategy."The
oppositionof the cool elements,phallic and ambrosial,proviclesa chain reaction,"

42

l)I(;l fAl MODhR).JISN'I

Mcluhan writes of the image.z"The fr'gureof the upscalewoman, the "good giri"
and "sweetkidl' is presentednext to the image of a horse representingclassical
sculpture(rather than a raging beast),suggestedby the allusion to Greek m1'ths
in the opening questionsand by Mcluhan's claim that the holse'silppearancesuggests"the trailing cloudsof culture asfrom someEuropeancastlel'7'The
high-class
woman and speciallybred horsesharea senseof stature;both aredesirableobjects
to assess
and possess.
Within the contextof the advertisement,they are pairedasa
coupleand double eachother.They both stanclupright and look toward the right.
The slantedte-rtof "Palomino' ("llre stocking color fbr Spring'47") bridgestheir
bodies and aligns their value."Palomino,"the ad sugge'sts,
describesthe color of
both of their legs,sincethis is an advertisementfbr a new color ol'Berkshirestock-

of jux
advertisement ancl the technique
re
from
his own textual play' He moves
wellasF
then quotesA' N' Whiteheadas
prod
lation and iuxtapositionofsources
whar
does
rvell
thing in Fitzgerald pretty
effectl
of "this" is not specified,but the
tt
through their shareduseof an artistic

subtexts'Mcluhans obliqueexplication
slt-p
by no means straightforward'The
describe
employsthe formal practiceit
than
producespoetic dissonancerather

ing. But Mcluhan arguesthat the pairing clrjuxtaposi.tionof thesetwo seemingly


disparatefigures suggestsa deeperancl rnore baselevel of communicatiorr,onc.
that "could never passthe censorof consciousness,"
let alone the censorof publisl'redmaterials.T'
The aclsellssex.The diagonalline of tcxt thatvisuallyconnectsthe two figures
movesbetweentheir lower-halves.The reader'seyeis drawn from the bottorn-hillf
of the upright horse (whosegenitalsare not visiblebut shoulclbe bascdupon the
horse'spositioning) to just below the rvornanthips, where her glovedhanclscross
eachother to fbrm an X. X marks the spot, anclit is there that her handsch"rtcha
stirrk,white pursewith the emblemo1'ahorscon it.'Ihe appcaranceof the horseon
the wornarispurse suggeststhe penetrationof the palomino into the lower-righthand corner of the page,the spatialregisteroccupieclby the woman anclf'cmale
sexuality.Juxtapositionis used to invclkesexualdesirein orclerto stinrulateconsumerdesire,anclMcluhan concludes,"'Ihe layoutnren of the prcsentacldebaserl
this techniquel'arrd this techniqueof juxtaposition exemplifreclPicasso.;'We can
hear Mcluhan's conservativemoralscoming through, fcrrcertatrly Picasso's
pairrtingsalsoexpresssexualityand sexualclesirc.But the point hereis that Mcluhans
text exposesthe useof an artistic techr.rique,
the lirrmarldeviccol.juxtaposition,as
preciselythat which makesthc ad (and Cubistart) efll'ctive,artistic,erndcleservir.rg
of analysis.Mcluhan writes, "Eflbctiveirdvertisinggains its ends partly by distracting the attentionof the readerfiom its presuppositionsanclby its cluietfusion
with other levelsof'experience."Ti
Preciselybecause
irdsseckto clistract,
one rnust
pay particular attention to how thev operate,to the techniqucsthey er.nploy.
One
must, in other words (and lbllowing Nlcluhan'slead),closercad.
The descriptionof Mcluhan's argumentin this particularexhibit front ThcMechanicolBrirle might seemstraightforwtrrd,but my closereadingof his text actually obscuresthe radical poeticnessof his prosc.in the processof explicatingthe

The GutenbergGalaxY

The pagesof Mcluhan's secondbook'


exl
pographic Man (rg6z), continueto
out into new forms of experimentatto
quotes stanclout from the rest of the

"books that the readeris intendedto r


incor
practiceof usingblockquotcsto

of one'stcxt and ttlrns it into a cenl'ra


lnstt
gument in'17rcGutenbergGalaxy'
for future reading'as Leavisand'Ihom
the pagesof his book (s
gtlment recros-s
pagcsto quickly reaclthesepull-quote

dispersedacrossthe codex'The pull-c


mo
hypertextualreadingPractice'one
(to
useI
mode
in a skirn-and-plunge

tirirrcdanJ lbcr'rsedattenl'ionexerted
these bullet points and block quotes

hvper and cleepthat actuallycomplic


cot
arpproachone takesto readingthe
a
pagesthemselvesdemandattention
t
Mcluharjs use of the Pull-quotes
which text blocks lie like tilesin mos
(
interfaceof the pageand the medium
Mcl.uhan'sargument' Mcluhan refle
tha
book evenbegirrs'In a pageoftext

and the techniqueof juxtaposition it ernploys,Mcluhan perlbrms


advertisement
hisowntextualplay.He movesfrom referencingPicassoto Madame Bovary ancl
A. N, Whiteheadaswell asFitzgerald's7heGreatGatsby.This accumuthenquotes
andjuxtapositionof sourcesproducesclaimslike the following:"This sort of
lation
pretty well doeswhat the presentad doesl"' fhc exactmeaning
thingin Fitzgerald
of"this"is not specified,but the effectlumps Fitzgeraldand the ad men together
theirshareduseof an artistictechniqueand a tendencyto trade in sexual
through
McLuhantobliqueexplicationof this advertisement,it bearsrepeating,is
subtexts.
bynomeansstraightforward.The six-paragraphexhibit accompanvingthe imnge
theformal practiceit describes;it usesjuxtaposition,not elucidation,and
employs
produces
poeticdissonancerather than a clearor rational argumentation.

Galaxy
TheGutenberg
Ttrepagesof Mcluhan's secondbook, Tre GutenbergGaloxy: 71teMaking of''lyplgraphicMan Q96z),continue to exhibit Leavis'simprint even as they venture
larrgcblock
outinto new forms of experimentation.In Culture and Envirctnmerrl,
quotesstandout from the rest of the page,ancl this selectecltcxt iclentifiesthe
"booksthat the readcr is intended to examinefbr himselfl'ioMcl-uhan tirkesthe
ofusing block quotesto incorporatea critical bibliographyinto thc pagcs
practice
of one'stext and turns it into a central organizationalmoclefbr presentinghis argumentin'Ihe GutenbergGalaxy.Insteadof using block cl.rotesto craft a syllabus
forfuturereading,as Leavisand Thompsondo, Mcluhan builds a bullet-point irrgumentccrossthe pagesof his book (seet-igurer.z). A rcaclercirn flip through the
pages
to quickly reaclthesepull-quotes,which themselvescomprisean argument
'Ihe
pull-quotesfbrm a re:rclingpath that promotesil
dispersed
acrossthe codex.
hlpertextualreadingpractice,one more aligneclwith the habitsof rcadingonline
in a skirn-and-plungemode (to use StevenJohnson'swords) than with the sustainedand fbcusedattention exertedwhen closereirdingpoetry.;;Mcluhan uses
thesebullet points and block cluotesto promote a reading practice thirt is both
hyperand deep that actuallycornplicatesthe division betweenthern.isWhatevcr
approachone takesto readingthe contentprcsentedon the pagesof this book, the
pagesthemselvesdemand attention as meclialinterlhces.
Mcluhan's use of the pull-qr.rotes
exposethe pageto be a kind of ciurvasupon
which text blockslie like tiles in mosaic.fhese text tiles rellexivelyilluminate the
interfaceof the pageand the medium of the book,which is alsopart of the contentol
Mcluhan's argument. Mcluhan reflectivelytheorizeshis forrnal practice before the
bookevenbegins.In a pageof text that appearsbefbrethe prologue,Mcluhirn writes,

b(ila, lx cnrmrtr hirnrif ia u. rnrl crch lrrl3ur3s drrrr r mrrx {}ftl


rq,md thc psa'frklo rhich rt bclungr, r rrrli* f rlxr * hiih thcrc rr n$ ara"r.;ta
l|\lc bt rtatrPtn{ s{Jt ct rt rnto ur{{hcr i
S$ch lwrrtof+r "il lirt het 6rrxtltctl t{t (ru.r trrlrr tbc tcrhaqtr rr( t.hC
wrprnd*d judgnrcnt by whirh rr crfl rrrolr(nj the limirlthror ({ sur o.sa
srrumFtionr by : cntquc of thtrn Wc can oow lrrr. not iurt Umpbiblunty
ln dnridfd and dntrnguirhcd rorklr. but plwdruicnlly in rnaor ssd& rad
cglturct lmultancourly. Wc ere rxr morc carttmrttcd to orta culturc*-to r
$nfk trt$ rmons tha hsrnrn ranr*t . $nr |rxlcc thrn to oac knt or lo ooc
lrn|pesc cs lo on fodlrx|log'. Clur r*cd rod.r1.ir. culrurelly, ttx rrmc er rbt
x-rntirt'r rhr-r *tlr tql tlct\ilrx .}}rc (rl rbc bdr rrl tlrc lrtrtrunrplr ol rtrrtrih in ont{, k' ({xrrrt lhill t,i.rr ('orngultnrcnt|lrrmg af hum*rt
Folcolid
bf tio6lt cujturcr rrll xrrn br rr rt'rur{ or r;'rtirlnm in rubjcct oc dgrrphoc
hu bcruoc. lt ir grt lrlclv tlr,rt our il$c ir nxrrc oba**rcnll tlun any oc,btr,
buf it hrr btt-urnc xaritrtrly .rrtlt of lhc cuoJrtinnr rn*! fact c{ ot':<:rnrn
bc;uod lnr otbcr 16r. llorrrrr. cxrrhl<rn*rion wrth dl phlrr r{ tlrr uncsrr.
cxur. prrcl|.ll enrj cc{htnr. lt *rth all rnodcr ol Frmrtrrc er-ucncrr, bc6en
it tlic cr6htccorhrtatur; rrrlr thc 6rrt rnrlcnr rrtul*xro rgriorr prrnt iulrurt
trud mcchrDrc&lmdulln \\h;rt hcarn .rs I 'RotRtillc rcxll.ro"' lurrrdr
tlitt|llc r*hr:ltncil ftr! o( nri' firt h;lrr hitrtrml thr drHdrr() $f (lo(urF
ilutoctrc rtrcl llur tcr|ainlr tt* rlcttrr>r:rrgrxtrc dr\currrrr hnrr g61srro6
thc rirnslt.rrxolr "f*lrl" in rll hurn.rn rft,nn xr that rhc hunun tamrly rr+n
Crnlr enrtcr c0{rdltxrnr r.tl r "globrl vdlrgc " \\'e trvc in r ringlc coattridrrJ
LP.r't rf,x)ornt nrth tritrrl drurnr. 5o th,rt tvncrrn rrth thc *ptvnitnt" tr"rJ.ry
'.progrcrr."
rr rr bq,ael5i atr,rlcnth.solun
cotu(crn rrth
arl,d rr irrrtcr"est
to txlr pr$blcrnr.

"TheGutenbergGalaxydeveloP

Suchas mosaic imageof numer'


the only practicalmeansof revei

The alternativeprocedurewo
'l
lationships in pictorial space'
upon which the presentstudYc<
interacting forms that have ur
particulady in our time" (emPh

Explaininghow he has carefullyper


cal narrative he is about to tell (in whi
tions" for cultural transformation),M'
writing styleis intentionallypursued.It

describeshis formal approachwith art


tion. As Bonnie Mak arguesin her illul
the pageis a medium that matters:"To

signify, to mean, but also to claim a c


presence,to be uniquely embodiedl'8

the significanceof the mosaicas fbrm


scribesthe mosaic as "a non-linearfor

alphabetic form in order to give the'


dimensionl'8'Connecting Mak and La

Tlrc neu, electranic interdependence


recreates the r'r:,oildin the inage ol a
glolnl oillage.
lt ruuld bt rurpri*in6" rndrrJ, if Rrrm,m'r drr*ripirrn o{ tryJirronf
drt?shd Fcgf{c ,J.il no( cr}rf$f$nd t.r C;rrni}xn' lmr..lcd6 trl Alncrn
urb.rl rrriclrcr lt rrruld tr cgu.rllr $.rrtlrng nrrc rbc ordinlry rcedtr lbor-{
tlltr\R rroctctf:t n:t ct{C tO rtbr*tr urth r dccp *n.C $[ rflinrlr fot thc r.rmc.
l,Qg.*.dt"7C*arcl ra lrrgulv tn/ Myri, p j

3l
Fig r.z Marshall Mcl-uhan, TheGutenbergGuluxy:The Makingof'Typographic
Nlm.
U'lirronto PressanrlSisnetllooks,1962.Iteprintedrvitltpcrnrissionofthe publishcr.

Mcluhans prose,we can seehow his t'


clepictingand embodyingits own print

his more famousand obviousexperim


his collaborationwith QuentinFioreor
hrst book, Mcluhan presentsa text in t

Turning to the contentof TheGuten


literarytraining,we might not besurpr

Mcluhan selects,excerpts,and juxtap


e r s a c r o s st h e d i s c i p l i n a r sy p e c t r u mi r

He employs the formal structureof ju

he attributed to Picasso.TlrcCutenbe
King Lear proposes. . l'-and thenprc

with quotes from Donne, Chaucer,N


pages.8'Thenext fifteenpagesinclude

oJ'WesternPhilosophy,an articlein the


M
The L<tnelyCrowd,and Heisenberg,

CI.()S! RITADI\G

ac

"TheGutenbergGalaxydevelopsa mosaicor field approach


to its problems.
Suchasmosaicimage of numerous data anclquotationsin evidenceoffers
theonly practicalmeansof revealingthe causaloperationsin history.
Thealternativeprocedurewould be to offer a seriesofviews offixed re_
lationshipsin pictorial space.Thus the galaxy ,r constellatiorrof events
uponwhich the presentstudy concentratesis itself a mosaicof perpetually
interactingforms that have undergone kaleidoscopictransfbrmatlon_
particularlyin our time" (emphasisaddecl).7n
Explaininghow he has carefullyperfbrmed a "meansof revealing"the historicalnarrativehe is about to tell (in which tech'ology proviclesthe .tausal
opera_
tions"for cultural transfbrmation),Mcluhan suggeststhat this unconventional
writingstyleis intentionallypursuecl.It suitsthe contentit presents.Mcluhan
thus
describes
his formal approachwith artistic intention and a media-specilicinten_
tion.As Bonnie Mak arguesin her illuminati'g new book, llow the page
Mtttters,
thepageis a medium that matters:"To matter is not only t. be of irnportance,
to
signify,to mean, but also to claim a certain physicalspace,to have
a particular
presence'
to be uniquely embodied."su
Also recently,Elena l.ambcrti fbcuseson
thesignificanceof the mosaic as fbrmal structure i' Mcluhan's writing;
she describesthe mosaicas "a non-linear lbrm of writitrg wl.richreconfigr.rrcs
the linear
alphabeticform in order to give the written page a tactile irnd multi-sensorial
dimension."s'
connecting Mak and Lamberti'spoints as a nreansof approaching
Mcluham prose,we can seehow his text is not o'ly about media but
also about

ll

depictinganclembodyingits own printeil materiality.And, he doesthis far


befbre
hismore famousand obviousexperimentationswith pageand book design,
as in
hiscollaborationwith Quentin Fioreon '\lrcMerliunrls the lvlassagc.
From his very
firstbook, Mcluhan presentsa text in n'hich form anclcontentare inseparirble.
Turning to the contentof rhe GutenbergGaraxywith recognitio'of McLuhan!
literarytraining, we might not be surpriseclthat he positionsliterirturcertits
center.
Mcluhan selects,excerpts,ar.rdjuxtaposescreativeancl critical texts frclm
writersacrossthe disciplinary spectrum,including selectionsfror. his own wntings.
He employsthe fbrmal structure of juxtaposition that, in'[\te Mechrtnical
Brit]e,
he attributedto Picasso.The GutenbergGalaxy openswith Shakespeare-,.whe'
King Lear proposes. . l'-and then proceedsby pieci'g t.gcther a literary
mosarc
with quotes from Donne, chaucer, Milton, ancl yeats,all within the first
eight
pages.s'Thenext fifteen pagesinclude quotationsfrom Bertrand Russellt
llistory
of westernPhilosophy,an article in the jour'aI psychiatry,plato, Dirvid Itiesman's
TheLonelycrowd, and Heisenberg.Mcluhan's patchworkproclucesa network
of

interconnectionsacrossthe timeline of intellectualhistory and acrossthe physical


spaceof the page.He builds an argumentby presentinga visual collageof text, and
the formal practicereflexivelyilluminatesthe medium of print and its constraints.
At the sametime,he strivesto captureon the pagethe simultaneitythat he ascribes
to electricmedia.
Mcluhan bombardshis readerwith an arrayof quotationstakenfrom sources

and media studies,a moment full of sign


of digital modernism that this book trar

over
of placing Pound'srePresentation
more public actsof refiaming the moder

Mcluhan intended to write a book


Dorothy ShakespearPound,datedSept

overload. The reader must constantly shift and redirect her attention in order

a book on E. P.If I can summonthe coul


competent I feel to do a good jobl'E'He

to arbsorbhis argument abor.rtthe epistemicshift produceclby electricmedia.


Lamberti describesMcluhan's use of the mosaic strategyas il formal way "to

book, but he did inspireone of his stude


Mcluhan correspondedwith Poundwh

questiontraditional ideasof knowledgeand to move the reaclerfrom rl lincar


(logical,ordered,exclusive)to arracoustic(non-logical,simultaneous,
inclusive)

Hospital (a government-runpsychiatri
poet to a young literary scholarnamed

perspective."$:
But his formal strategyalso imitatesthe acousticellect of elec-

tory.seKenner'ssemina-lThePowrdEra
Pound, whom the literary academyhad I

sampledfrom acrossa historictrltimeiine,and he createsa senseof infbrmation

tric media within the pagesof a pirperboundbook. The eflectproclucesa poetic


tension(to usea New Critical term) that invokesthe nredialshitt McLuh:rr.r
describeswhile also displayingthe inseparabilityof fbnn and contentin printecl
prose.Lewis H. Lapham clescribes
Mcluhan's prose as,"By turns brilliant and
opaque,Mcluhirn's thought meetsthe spccificationsof the cpistemologythat
he ascribesto the electronicmcdia-non-lineal, repetitive,cliscontinuous,
intuitive, proceedingby ilnalogyinsteadof seqr.rential
argument."8r
Form fbllows
-lhe
function; the mediurn is the mcssage. result is provocativeanclpcrplexing,
and both are intentional.s'
Like the modemist writers he admirecland thc New Critics who canonizecl

pro-Mussolini radio broadcastsduring


to revive Pound'sreputationbut alsoidr

ernism, as the title of his book express


Pound'sera. As the initial mediatorbetv

an important role in the transmissiono


and writers in the secondhalf of the twe

signilicanc
McLuhan assertedPor'rnd's
He viewed Ezra Poundnot only asa gre

Mcluhan alwerysassertedthat the elec

them, Mcluhan rejecteda clistinctionbetrvcencrc'ativcanclcriticalwriting, ancl

the Pound Era.

the resultsare evident in his writing on mcdia. No other moclernistwriter/critic

I am suggesting,as othershave do
meclia studies upon his appreciationa

merged poetic irnd critical writing more-and inspired McLuhan more-than


EzraPound,and it is to Pound'.s
influenceon Mcl,uhirnthat I now turn.

Part II. Mcluhan and Modernism


Befbrehe had publishedthe booksthat woulclestablishhim asthe iconicprophet
of the new mediatiz.edage,Mcluhan wrote to EzraPouncl,"Your portrait by Lelvis
'lhe
adorns our mantle."86
portrait was a reproduction of a charcoal sketch by
Wyndham Lervis,whom Mcl.uhan irlso grcatly respectedanrl with rvhom hc dcvelopeda closepersonalrelationship.8T
Mcl.uhant act of framing Pounrl'sportrait
anclplacing it in the centerof his home is nrore than a curious and colorful footnote in literary history. It is an early poir.rtof connectionbetlveenlitertrry history

ticulaq the writings of Pound and also


only of central interestfor Mcluhan bu

fbr digital modernism. foyce'sinfluenc


mented, especiallyby Donald Theall,an

here.e'But understandingwhy Joycean


theorist helpselucidatethe hold thesew

media culture and authorsworkingwitl

Media StudiesasModernistStud

In the pagesof TheMechanicalBride'I


Icnge posed as a query: "You nevert

( . t _ ( ) s l . t R l t A t ) t N r( r;

andmediastudies,a moment full of significanceanclsymbolismfcrrthe trajectory


ofdigitalmodernismthat this book traces.Iil like to suggestthi,rtMcluhan's act
of placingPound'srepresentationover l.rismantle is a gesturethat parallelshis
morepublicactsof refiaming the modernist poet for a new generationof readers.
Mcluhan intended to write a book on Pound. In a letter to Pound'swife,
DorothyShakespear
Pound, dated September1948,Mcluhan rvrites,"Next job,
abookon E. P.If I can summon the courage.Becausethe more I readhim the less
I feel to do a good job."88He never did find the courageto rvrite that
competent
book,but he did inspire one of his studentsto do it instead.During the yearsthat
Mcluhancorrespondedwith Pound while the poet was cletainecl
at St. Elizabeths
Hospital(a government-runpsychiatricf'acility),McLuhan introducecithe aging
poetto a young literary scholar named Hugh Kenner.ll-re result is literary history.6e
Kenner'sseminal ThePound Era (tgzr) nearly singlehandedlyrecuperatecl
Pound,whom the literary academyhad shunnedasa political traitor after Pouncl'.s
pro-Mussoliniradio broadcastsduring World War lle" Kenner not only helped
torevivePound'sreputation but also identified hirn as the central ligure of moclernism,asthe title of his book expresses,
definingthc'entiremodernistpcriod as
Pound's
era.As the initial mediator betweenPound and Kenner,Mcl-uharrplayed
animportantrole in the transmissionof the moclcrnistpoet ar.rdcritic to rcaders
andwritersin the secondhalf of the twentieth century.ln his own writings aswell,
Mcluhan assertedPouncl'ssignilicancefbr literary, cultural, ancl mecliastutlies.
HeviewedEzraPound not only as a greirlpoet anclcritic but alsoa rnecliathcorist.
Mcluhan alwaysassertedthat the electric ageanclits str.rcly
have their origins in
thePoundEra.
I am suggesting,as others have done before rne, that Mcluhan establishecl
mediastudiesupon his irppreciationanclunderstandingof moclernisnr,in particular,the writings of Pound and also .[ames]oyce.'' Thesetwo writers are not
only of central interestfor Mcluhan but, irsI show in the fbllowirrgchapters,also
for digital modernism. Joyce'sinfluencc on Mcluhan's texts has been well documented,especiallyby Donald Theall,ar.rdit is not my intention to repeatthat work
here.e'But understandingwhy ioyce and Pounclappcalto the lirst mocle'rnmedia
theoristhelpselucidatethe hold thescwriters continueto haveover contemprorary
mediaculture and authorsworking within it.

MediaStudiesasModernistStudies
In the pagesof TheMechanicalBride,Mcluhan confrontshis reaclerwith a challenge posed as a query: "You never thought of a page of news as a symbolist

48

DI(iI'IALMODI'RNISNI

landscape?"et
He continues,"the French symbolists,fbllowed by fames |oyce in
Ulysses,
saw that there was a new art form ofuniversal scopepresentin the tech-

"Converselythen, it might be fair to say


ciation of Joyce'swork without a comple

Mcluhan usesloyce,via Symbolism,to


nical layout of the modern newspaperl'e4
position his own practice of criticallv analyzingthe fbrmal artistry of lowbrow

Mcluhan's work.""'3
The concept of"applied |oyce"is a poe
impetus with the digital actsof adapting

newspaperadvertisementswithin a highbrow modernist literary frarneu'ork.He


rnakesthis point more forcefullywhen he suggestsa comparisorrbetweenhinself
and |oyce through their sharedstudy of popular culture and advertisments."To
write his epic of the modern Ulysses,"Mcluhan writes, Joyce"studiedall his life
Mcluhan rnakesthis comthe ads,the comics,the pulps, and popular spreech.""
parison even more directly later in 7hc MechanicnlBride,whelr he writes, "|oyce
exploredpopular phraseologyand heroeswith a precisionwhich this book cannot
emulate."'6
Although he expresses
humility beforehis modernistidol, McLuhan
obviously seeksnot or.rlyto emulateJoyce'stechniquc but also to situatehis own
work in the companyof the modemist writers he so deeplyaclnrired.
Eric Mcluhan, Marshall Mcluhans son and a literary scholarand mecliacritic
in his owr.rright, reflectson his fathcr'srelationshipto foyce:
"n-ryfather r,rsed
Joyceas a colleague.Whencverhe maclea cliscovcryabout
technologyancl culture, he woulcl open the Wake ancl rcad for ir bit, ancl
therc, sure enough, he woulcl fincl that f<lvcchacl already'been over thc
earlier.. . . Hc cliclnot nrcrelyuse |oyceto conlimr rrn inground, decacles
sight,but also usecl|oyceas the stin.ruluslor freshilwarencssof the prcser.rt
moment."eT
Marshall Mcl-uharx sensethat he was |oycescoiieagueis particularly evidcr.rtin
Ihe GutenbergGalaxy,wherein he clairnsthat he pursuesa fbrmal approachsin.rilar to thrrt in FinnegarrsWake.He writes, "Jamesfoyce deviseclan entirely trew
fbrm of expressionin FinnegansWakein orclerto capturethe cornplexinterplayof
Mcluhan clcrives
factorsin the very conligurationthat we are consicleringhere."vE
fiom Joycean understandingof literary tcchniqueas a lbrrn of lechneor medium.
He expfainsthat the secondpageof Firrrrr'.grtns
Wnkeexposes
hou' foyce"is making
'[1rc
a mosaic,an Achillesshield."" Mcl,uhan thel-radaptsthis mosaicmethod for
'lheall
GutenbergGalaxy.Donald Theall and |oan
explain,"tlrc working title for
both TfreGutenbergGolaxy anclUnderstanding
Mcdia was 7he Road to Firurcgans
Woke"k\)"WhateverelseMcluhan was up to in his sometimcscxaspc.r:rting
and,
often enigrnaticwritings," thev writc, "hc developeclir theorv ol'conrmunication
'appliecl
which he consideredto be
lolca"""' Eric Mcluhan recallsthat his firther
'bnce
remarkedto me, as I know he did to many others,that his work on media
'applieci
and culture was, in the main,
Ioycel""'' He then goes on to conclude,

this book. Mcluhans formal engageme


of framing and hanging Pound'sportrait
to mociernism and to digital modernism

genealogythis book traces'When we turl


than |r
which is somewhatless-examined
studiesand modernism arecentralto dig

in
modernism from a new perspective;
media theorist beforemediastudieswas

McLuhan and Pound

During the years r948-t957,Mcluhan c


andhis l'
was restrainedat St.Elizabeths,
Pound to be not only an important poe

At this tirne, Pound'spoetry had beenor


supporting Mussolini in radio broadca
tainetlby the US governmentlbr treas

But the imprisoned and disgracedpoet


nous literati but also young upstartslil
seekinghim out as a guide for interpre

tivateclthroughout this life' as Guidett


placeclaround 1948 (to Felix Giovelli
Pound'stastel"Everlthing he nrentions

peclagogyso colnpellingthat' in a Iett


Pouncl,"Have iust this minute beenb
in your ABC of Re:rding'MaYmYPate

Mcluhan's intt
thnt book rePrinted.""'5
trivial but centralto the theoreticalent

cltrringthe perioclof his correspond


the central aspectsof his criticism:me
lng the connectionsbetweenlanguag

<latedJuly 16,rg52,Mcluhan laysout i


he is working and which woulclestab

C I , ( ) S HR E A D I N ( ;

4q

"Conversely
then, it might be fair to say that no one can claim a seriousappreciationof Joyce'swork without a complete familiarity with the full spectrum of
Mcluhan'swork."ruj
Theconceptof"applied foyce"is apoetic act that, Icl like to suggest,sharesan
impetuswith the digital acts of adaptingmociernismthat I will examinelater in
thisbook. Mcluh:rns formal engagementwith foyce irnd his more symbolic act
of framingand hanging Pound'sportrait are both gesturesthat connectMcluhan
to modernismand to digital modernism, making him a nridpoint in the literary
genealogy
this book traces.When we turn to the inlluenceof Poundon Mcluhan,
whichis somewhatless-examinedthan Joyce's
imprint, we recognizehow literary
studies
and modernism are centralto digital culture.\\'e alsohavea chirnceto see
modernismfiom a new perspective;in this case,to seeEzra Pound as an early
mediatheoristbeforemcdia studieswas a rccosnizablefielclof study.

McLuhanand Pound
while the poet
Duringthe years ry48-r957,Mcluhan correspondedwith Por.rncl
wasrestrainedat St.Elizabeths,and his lettersillustratethirt McLuhan understoocl
Poundto be not only an impclrtant poet but also an insightful analystof mediir.
At this tirne,Pound'spoetry had beenovershadowecl
by his politics.After his stint
supportingMussolini in radio broaclcastsduring World \\tar Il, Pound was detainedby the US governmentfor treasonirnd fbuncl mentally unfit to stand trial.
But the imprisonecland disgracedpoet did not lack visitors,mirny of thcm luminousliterati brrt also young upstartslikc Mct,r.rhitnwho visitecliL migliorJabbro
seekinghim out as a guide for interpreting culture.This is a role that PounclculIn an unclatcdletter,
tivatedthroughout this iif'e,as Guide to Kulchur expresses.
placedarouncl 1948 (to Felix Giovelli), Mcluhan describeshis admiration for
Mcluhan fbund Pourrd's
Pound'staste:"Everythinghe mentionshasto be re,rd')('4
pedagogyso compelling that, in a letter dated Septcmberzz, 1949,he wrotc to
Pound,"Have just this minute been bracing myself rvith the pageson prosody
in your ABC of Reading.May my pate becomea flue-pot if I dont [sic] try to get
that book reprinted.""'5Mcluhan's interestin Pound rvirsneither tangentialnor
trivial but central to the theoreticalenterprisehe was undertaking.Indeecl,it was
during the periocl of his correspondencewitl.r Pounclthat Mcltrhan clcvelopecl
the centralaspectsof his criticism: methods of closereaclingmecliaanciexamining the connectionsbetweenlanguage,culture,anclmedia."'6In a letter to Pound
datedfuly i6, 1952,Mcluhan lays out in detail the sectionsof the book on which
'flre
GutenbergGalaxy:
he is working and which would establishhis reputation,

50

DIGII.ALMODIII].NISM

The Makingof TypographicMon. He then askspouncrfbr advice,not wirh style


or organization,but with content: "But are there some big facts I've missed?",,,2

straight out refusedto answerthe questi


letters-butdont xpect me to answerquel

From his letters,it is obviousthat Mcluhan identified pounclas not only a l'ather
of modernism but also as a forefatherof media theory.

1948)."tMcluhan did not needanswer


an inchoate media theory that provided

Poundwas deeplyalvareof the specificitiesof media and tlreir impact on litera-

In a letter to Pound datedJune16,19


Iirst and only serioususeofthe greatte(

ture and reading.ln ABC of ReadingAx4) pound writes,"In all casesone testwill
be, tould this materialhavebeenmademore eificientin somt-other mediuma""ur
In personalcorrespondence
with HarrietMonroe(in a letterdatedAugustrg,rgrz),

becausethey provide "perceptionsof s


a
to film becausethe poetry expresses

Pound queried,with evidentfrustration and lament,"can yotr teachan American


poet that poetry is an art, an art with a techniclue,
rvith rncdla.. .?" (enrphasis
added)''sor, considerthe following media-specificstatementin 'A Retrospect":
'Dawn
"When Shakespeare
talks of
irr russetmantle clad' he preseutssomethilg
u'hich the painter doesnot present."""In "How to Read"(1929)he bolcllyclueries,
"wHY BooKS? this sirnplelirst questionwas never irsked.",,'
Mcl.uhan fbllows

later ascribe to electric media and stri


Mcluhan reading Pound returnsus to
New Criticism in the developmentof

suit by reminding us that the book is a tcchnology (and by doing srl in ir boltled
staternent):"our obsessionwith the book as the archetype of culture has not
even encouraged us to consider the book itself as a peculiar and arty way of
packaging experience" (emphasisin original).,,. He continues,"But until the

reading. For Mcluhan, this is a good t


writes, "It has to be read very slowly" (

book is seenas a very specializcdfbrrn ofart and technologylve cannot torlayget


our bearingsamong the new arts and the new media."",Mcluhirn shareclwith
(and learnedfrom) Pound the idea that new ideas,poctry, irnclmedia must arise

ideas into poetic form evenin his pros


lan
own poetic symbol for representing

fiom a knowledgeof the older fonrls.

June3o, 1948,Mcluhan writeswith adn


heavierdemandson the readerthanan1
is based in the fact that TheCantosden

demand (italicizedfor emphasis)to slor


Mcluhan identilieshow Poundadapts

ideogram, to describethe aestheticto


prose and verseis the ideogramJ'Mc

Pound experimentedwith technology and mediar,especiailythe techr-rology


of the codex, in his poetry, and I will explore how he dicl so in more detail in
chapter 3; but one well-known exampletaken frorn Hugh Kenneri analysiswill
sulficeto make the point. Kenner arguesthat pound'suseof the typewriter is evi-

whether historical,excerptedor invent


grammic nrethodin relationto mediah

dent in his groundbreaking


imagistpoem "ln a Stirtionof the Metro' (r9r3).when
Pound strikesthe spacebar twice, the action is not only meant to separatervorcls
but to serveas an aesthetic'gesture,"Kenner writes, by which "somethingintrinsicateto his f'eelingof how the lines sound and of how meaningsare built up.",,r
In a letter to Pound dated January22,).9j7,Mcluhan fbcuseson a similar aspect
of Pound'swriting: "you were the one man of our time who had seenthc type-

printed book). Mcluhan seesin Poun


content that demandsunpackingby a

writer as a new art tbrm and had usedit imaginatively.""s


He continueshis letter
in this line of thinking, presentingan interpretationol'meclialsrole on the mes-

tween hot and cool media basedon tl


the user.Hot media (radio,film, photo

sageit presents:'Asa form of publicaticlnthe typewriterhasobviouslyhadrnuch

leavelittle to be filled in from the aud


toons, oral speech,and, perhapscoun

to do with habits of verbal arrangementboth written and oral.""oMcluhan then


requestsa responsefrom Pound,whom he identifiesashis teacher:'Anything you
haveto sayon this subjectwill haveinterestfor the stuclelt of your work.""t pound

point is that Mcluhan fbllowsPoundil


ing about media (both the mediaof cir

data density as artistic practiceand crit


reacling,and the impact of this point i

particularly in the distinctionhe make


Medirt:'llteExte
ln UndL'rstattding

of participation from users'The distin


and outdateddivisionsit makesbetwe

il)lN(;

5r

straight
out refusedto answerthe question,responding,"Yu go right orr writin'me
letters-but
dont xpect me to answerquestions-even
if answersareknown'(June r8,
1948)."8
Mcluhan did not need answersbecausehe tbund in Pound'sThe Cnntos
aninchoatemedia theory that provided inspiration fbr his own nascentideas."e
In a letterto Pound datedjune 16,1948,Nlcluhan describesTheCantosas "the
firstand only serioususeof the greattechnicalpossibilitiesof the cinematographi'
because
they provide "perceptionsof simultaneitiec""uHe comparesThe Oant<ts
of simultaneitythat he would
to film becausethe poetry expressesan aresthetic
laterascribeto electric media and strive to mimic in his own rvriting. Reading
Mcluhan reading Pound returns us to my earlier examinationof the role of the
NewCriticism in the developmentof media stuclies.ln a letter to Pound clatecl
)une3o,1948,Mcluhan writeswith adrniration,"Your prclems-theCantos-rnake
heavierdemandson the readerthan anlthing elseof your tirne."''"The compliment
is basedin the fact that TheCantosclemandhermeneuticinterpretation:rnd close
reading.For Mcluhan, this is a good thil'rg."Pouncl'sprose is precise,"Mcltrhan
writes,"It has to be readvery slowly"(ernphasis
in original)."' First,thcre is thc
demand(italicizedfor cmphasis)to slowlyand closelyrcaclPound'sprose.Second,
Mcluhirn identifieshorv Pourrdadaptsa poetic fornrai method of condcnsinghis
ideasinto poetic tbrm even in his prose criticism. Mcl,uhan draws upon Pound's
own poetic symbol fbr representinglirnguageat its nlost preciseand imagistic,thc
"His method in
ideogram,to describethe aestheticto which he hirrrsell'aspires.
proseand verseis the ideogram,"Mcluhan writes,"'Ihat is thc sculp[t]editenr,
whetherhistorical,excerptedor invented."''r
In Chapter5,I exarnincPound'sideogrammicmethod in relationto mecliahistory and theory,but 1brnow the relevirnt
point is that Mcluhirn tbllows Por.rndin turning to literatureas il nlc.lnsof thinking aboutmedia (both the mediaof cinemaand electricsimultaneitybut alsothe
printed book). Mcluhan seesin Pound'.suse of the icleograma conrlensationof
contentthat demandsunpacking by a careful reader.Mcl,uhan appreciatcsthis
datadensityas artistic practiceand critical rhetoric.The irieogramclemancls
close
reacling,and the impact of this point is evident in Mcl,uhan'sorvn nretlia theorl',
particularlyin the distinction he makesbetweenhot anclcool mediir.
'lhe
In UnderstandingMedio:
Extensitttts
oJ Man, Nlcluhan distinguishesbetween hot and cool media basedon the level of participation they require liom
the user.Hot media (radio, film, photographs,books,etc.)are high definition ancl
leavelittle to be filleclin fiom the audiencewhile cool meclia(thc telephone,cartoons, oral speech,and, perhapscourlterintuitively,telcvision)require high levels
of participation tiom users.The distinction is lessvaluablefbr the often arbitrary
and outdateddivisionsit make'sbetweenindividunl media tbrms thar.rfbr the fact

52

I)tGITAt_tvlODERNIS\,1

that the impulsetoward distinction is basedon the amount of userinteractionthey


elicit."aIn other words, data densityinforms readerlyinteractionand definesthe
tlpe of media by its levelof participation.Mcluhan understandsthis emphasison
interactivify to be a facetof modernism and its vestigeinto the electronicage."It
is strange,"he writes,"that modern readershavebeenso slow to recognizethat the
proseof Gertrude Steinwith its lack of punctuationand other visualaids,is a care-

extendedour sensesand our nervesby I


thesewords in964. Readingthem now

porary digital moment.


Cybernetics,AI, and Posthumanism
*d
consciousnest,"

the extensionof o

fully devisedstrategyto get the passivevisual readerinto participant,oral action.

where in daily life. Bluetoothearphone


our auditory senseand turn humansint

So with E. E. Cummings, or Pound, or Eliot."''; fhe lack of traditional grarrmar


and syntaxin modernistliteraturemakesreadingand comprehensiondifEcultand

extend our ability to communicateand1


and friendships;cellular and mobilede

requireshigh levelsofreader interaction.This is a gooclthing becauseit requires


closereadingand critical analysisfrom the reader.The intentional strategyon the

whereabouts,cxtendingour senseof;
aswe know it is,without
consciousness

part of modernist writers to elicit readerinteractivity,Mcluhan suggests,


not only
demandsreadersto closeread but :rlsoprepirresthem to pursue similar reading
technicluesin the electricage.This is the main point and the fbundationfbr unclerstandingrnedia through moclernismvia McLuhan. understanding closereacling
to be the refinementof the readerlyparticipationnecessaryto engagewith moclernist literature-and moc'lernistliteratureas origin of our contemporaryelectric
media age-Mcluhan takeswhat he learnedat Cambridgeand erclapts
it tow:rrcl
approachingand understandingmedia.

ically incorporated.Thc extensionof c


way we see our world and ourselvesI

the way we see."The partial and speci


noble" that was associatedwith the ear

the electricage.""rTo seethingsdilTere


of seeing,reading,and thinking. We ne

Mcluhan theorizedthis situationand r


As I havebeenarguing,Mcluhan a<

ture. Simultaneifyis the name of the g


world, but this does not meanthat slo

PartIII. Mcluhan asDigitalModernist

reading, slow ancl focusedanalysis'is


have seenhow Mcluhan identifiedsin

TheRear-ViewMirror

as exempliliedby Cubism,cinema,and
ing, the practice of slowly and carefu

In Understanding
Media, the book that made him fhmous,Mcl,uhan arguesthat a
new cultural epochis upon us, and it is characterizedby speed.In the rnechanical

of approachingthis medial environm


immediately resemblewhat we think r

age,actionscould be <listinguished
from their consequences
becausethey happened slowly,but, Mcluhan writes, "Toclaythe action and reactionoccur almost
ilt the sametimeJ'r'1.
This is in part because,"Ii]n the elcctric age,"Mcluhan explains, "our central nervous systemis technologicallyextendcclto involve us in

perhaps,neither doesmy practiceof cl


aptation of the New Critical practicein

the whole of mankind."''7Hence, the book'.ssr.rbtitle:"'Ihe Extensionsof Manl'


The Tlpographic Man of the GutenbergAge, who, recall,Mcluhan identilieclas

becornethe subjectsof closereadingi


the subjectand forrn of one of McLu

isolatedand individualistic,is transfbrmedthrough technologiesthat extend his


senses,his nervoussystem,and his communify.As a result,Mcluhan writes, "we
approachthe final phasein the extensionsof man-the technologicalsimulation
of consciousness,
when the creativeprocesso1'knowing will bc collectivelyand
corporatelyextendedto the whole of human society,much as we have already

I focus r-rotsolely on text but alsoon


meaningful modes of communicatio

designedby Harley Parker),a work tl


and alignswith the impulseof digitalI

After his meteoric rise asPublicPr


releaseda manifesto-likebook that I

through its formal design. COUI'l'

our sensesand our nervesby the various media."''8McLuhirn published


extended
wordsin1964.Readingthem now, they burn with insight about our contemthese
porarydigitalmoment.
AI, and posthumanismpursued "the technologicalsirnulationof
Cybernetics,
and the extensionof our sensesby media is now visible evervconsciousness,"
wherein daily life. Bluetoothearphonesand iPod devicesstrappedto arms extend
ourauditorysenseand turn humansinto cyborgs;Web z.o socialnetworking sites
our ability to communicateand participatein virtuirl spaces,conversations,
extend
andfriendships;cellular and mobile devicestrack our location and broadcastour
extending our senseof presenceand physicality.Creativehuman
whereabouts,
consciousness
aswe know it is, without doubt, to somedegreecollectivennd physicallyincorporated.The extensionof our sensesin this manner transfbrmsthe
waywe seeour world and ourselves.Moreover,irs Mcl,uhan arguecl,it changes
thewaywe see."The partial and specializedcharacterof the viewpclint,however
noble"that was associatedwith the earliermechanicalagc "will not serveat all in
modes
theelectricagei"'rTo seethir.rgsdifferentlywe neeclto aclaptour traditior-ral
of seeing,reading,and thinking. We need to privilcgc new pattcrnsand practices.
Mcluhan theorizedthis situationand modeledsuchnew methoclsin his prose.
As I havebeenarguing,Mcluhan adaptsclosereaclingto cxamineelectricculture.Simultaneityis the name of the game in the moclern,rrrecliatizecl,
electronic
'Ib
world,but this does not mean that slownesshas no virluc. the contrirry.Olose
reading,slow ancl focusedanalysis,is central to our hyper-mecliatedworld. We
haveseenhow Mcluhan identified simultaneityas l centrirlfhcct o1'rnoclemism,
Cantot,irnclhe irdapteclclosereadasexemplifiedby Cubism,cinema,and Por.rncl's
ing, the practice of slowly and carefully anailyzingthcsc artwclrks,into a means
of approachingthis medial environment. His mocle clf close reaclingrnight not
immediatelyresemblewhat we think of whc'n we think ilbout closc rcirciingirncl,
perhaps,neither doesmy practiceof closereadinghis writings, but such is the aclaptationof the New Critical practiceinto the new media age.FollowingMcl.uhan,
I focus r.rotsolely on text but also on images,clesign,irnclpatternsof design as
meaningful moclcsof communicirtion.h.rdcec'I,
thc dcsign ancl pirtternsol'print
becomethe subjectsof closereadingalclngsidc
the contentthey prescnt.Suchis
the subjectanclform of or.reof Mclr.rhan\later books,COUNTERB/.ASI(rq6q,
designedby Harley Pilrker),a work that conveysMcluhirn's nroclenistirmbitions
and alignswith the impulse of digital moclernism.
After his meteoric rise as public prophet and cultural cornment.rtor,Mcl.uhern
releaseda manifesto-likebook that further solidilied his moc.lernistambitions
through its formal design. COLINTERBI.,ST updatesBlnsf, the publication

54

DICitAl_ MOI)[,R-\tSM

wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound releasedin r9r4 that contained the vorticist manifesto and groundbreakingexperimentationwith typography and page

ghost-like, over social and cultural ur


a
munication' computers,persuasion'

design.The pagesof coUNTERBIAST resemblemodernist manifestoswith their


blaling typographyand probing, combativestatemc-nts.
Its cover visibly imitates

Moreover, Mcl.uhan is a bridge betwe


adopted the role of the modernistpoet
understanding of literature that he ga

its modernist inspiration.'i"The cover art containsa spiralingvortex at its center


and presentsthe text of the title in a pinkish color that invokesglasf'sowl bright
pink cover.The recentlypublishedfacsimileedition of couNTER BLAST
ry-s4,a
"never-beforepublished manuscript that Mcluhan <iistributedas
a hrnd-made
'zinel"
further testifiesto lvtcluhan'sinsistenceon his moclernistheritageand his
remix spirit.'.'Both books titled |}7N'TERBLASZ'situatethemselves
in a feedbarckloop betweetrold ancl new literature and the medial ecologiesthat elable
them. Mcluhan intendecl couN'IERBLASi" to adapt the messageblasteclfrom
the pagesof that earliermoclernistpublication,and through it, he decls.res
himself
"The term COUNTERBLAST doesnot irnply any atpart of a modernist lir-reage.
tempt to erodeor explodeBLAST| Mcluhan writes, "Ratherit ir.rdicates
the neecl
for a counter-environment
as a meansof perceivingthe tlominantone."'r.McLuhan presentsthe electric environmcnt as a fbrm of counterculture,ancl study of
it servesto illumin:rtethe cor.rstraints
of the previotrscr.rlturaland medial period.
"we look irt thc present through a rear-view mirror," Mcl,uhan
writcs.'. \4'c
only begin to recognizethc constrirints,aflbrdances,ancl consequences
of print
becausethat previousepochis passing.couN't-U.RBLAST'cxpresscs
the icleathat
the emergentelectronicworlcl enablesus to seemorc clearly the worlcl ol'p.rrint
arrd its psychol<lgical,
social,and communicativceft'ccts.Likc Trc lvledittntIs tl.tc
Massage(clesigneciby Quentin Fiole I1967]),couNT'ERBL,,ISTdeperrclsupon
creativegraphic designanclexperimcntaltypographyto presenta messagethirt is
literally inseparablefionr its t'nedium.Thesehighly clesignedtextstbcusattentiol
on the pageas interfaceand the book as medium. They serveas eviclencethat the
new media environmentprolnotesunclerstancling
of-ancl possibll'evenappreciation and nostalgiafbr-the previousprint epoch.,:a'lhisirnpetusto rettrn to :rncl
reconsiderthe past in light of the current, medial lnomeltt is the ccntral motivating tbrccol'tligitalnrorlernisnr.

Conclusion
Mcluhan rlot onlywrote.rt the midpoint of the twel)ticthcentury,but l.reis irlso
himself a midpoint betweennodernism and digital modernisrn.Donald Thc.all
writes,"sincethe mid-point of the centurya singlename,Mcl"uhan,hasbroocled

age of television.I hoPe we can now


to the New Criticism showshow he a
moment to addresshis own' We canler

ilar. Indeed, understandingMcluhan i


can and, indeed,must tenovatetraditio

emergentliterarYculture'
Mcluhan saw the world in the mi
and he oflered the following query' Pc

vorticism in particular),it couldeasily


that follow: "May not our job in the n
the new vortex on thc bodYof the olc

moclernistand a theorist of new med


How exactlyto go a
in thc :rffirmative.

ageand its impact or-rliteratureis my I

Cll.OStrIll..AI)l\*G

5s

ghost-like,
over social and cultural understandingof the intersection of communication,computers,persuasion,and the emergenceof a technoculture.""'
Mcluhan is a bridge betweenliterary and media studiesbecausehe
Moreover,
the role of the modernist poet/critic in the postmodern period using iru
adopted
of literature that he gained from the New Critics to explain the
understanding
ageof television.I hope we can now seehow retracing Mcl,uhan'sconnections
to the New Criticism shows how he adaptedthe practicesof an earlier cultural
momentto addresshis own. We can learn fiom Mcl,uhan and do somethingsimilar,Indeed,understandingMcluhan in this way servesto remind us that we too
canand,indeed,must renovatetraditionalcritical practices to suit the needsof our
literary culture.
emergent
Mcluhan saw the world in the midst of transfbrmation due to medial shift,
andhe offeredthe following query. Posedin the languageof modernism (and o1'
vorticismin particular),it could easilyserveas a thesisor a probe fbr the chapters
thatfollow: "May not our job in the new electronicagebe to stuclythe action of
thenew vortex on the body of the older culture?"'toReaclingMcl-uhan as both a
modernistand a theorist of new media, I answer"thc Oracle of the ElectricAge"
in the alfirmative.How exactlyto go abclutstudyingthe new vortcx of thc clectric
ageand its impact on literatureis rny pr.rrsuitin the following chapters,

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