-the making of typographic man,
By M. McLuhan
According to McLuhan we live in a world that is dissolving and resolving at the same time and “the Gutenberg Galaxy is intended to trace the ways in which the forms of experience and of mental outlook and expression have been modified, first by the phonetic alphabet and then by printing� (pp. 1). In this day and age we humans would describe ourselves as modern. In the future we might be considered by our predecessors as Renaissance in character just as we see the Elizabethans as medieval but, they, in turn would describe them selves as classic. The purpose of this book is to explore the principal factors in social change so that it may lead to more understanding of our selves (pp. 3).
William Blake was determined to explain the cause and effect of psychological change both personal and social. McLuhan uses a line from Blake’s poem Jerusalem to describe the theme of The Gutenberg Galaxy; “The Seven Nations fled before him: they became what they beheld�. In McLuhan’s opinion what Blake is referring to is that when our sense ratio change humans change. When anyone of our senses, body or mental functions are externalised in technology our sense ratio also change with it (pp. 265). According to McLuhan new technology has a way of hypnotizing the user because it isolates senses. Or as Blake would but it “They became what they beheld�.
In the eighteenth century one of the most radical new literary conventions was the novel. This break trough enabled the author to become a “man of letters� and there by reaching a wider audience. The written word had become a part of the market society much in the same way that the movie would become in the 20th century (pp. 273). As the arts became a part of the market society the artist felt a need to study the effect of art. According to McLuhan this makes it possible to write a book such as The Gutenberg Galaxy that seek to investigate how new technology has affected us humans (pp. 275).
Bibliography
McLuhan, M.(1962)The Gutenberg Galaxy.London:Routledge & Kegan Paul
Camilla Hestdal 08:56, 29 Oct 2004 (EST)
