Marshall McLuhan

by Jonathan Miller

However modern the master, he must build on the thought of the past; and the most modern of masters can usually be shown to belong to some well-defined tradition. This, Jonathan Miller believes, is particularly true of Marshall McLuhan. Tunnelling through McLuhan's medium into his message, he finds . . . But the reader must be free to follow Miller's intellectual detective story to its appropriate, paradoxical end. 'I can still recall', he concludes, 'the intense excitement with which I first read McLuhan in 1960. Not that I remember a single observation which I now hold to be true, nor indeed a single theory which even begins to hold water. And yet, as a result of reading him . . .'As well as writing about McLuhan, Jonathan Miller has recently directed several plays (including The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest) and a film. He is also well known for his part in the famous review Beyond the Fringe; for his film of Alice in Wonderland; and as a TV director and editor. He has contributed to a wide variety of periodicals including the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. But all Miller's many activities (he was trained as a doctor and is a member of the Royal Society study group in non-verbal communication) are guided by one - a passion for ideas and their ancestry, as his book clearly shows.

Genres: Nonfiction

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE was a British theatre and opera director, author, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy review Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and performers Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett. Despite having seen few operas and not knowing how to read music, he began stage-directing them in the 1970s and became one of the world's leading opera directors with several classic productions to his credit. His best-known production is probably his 1982 "Mafia"-styled Rigoletto set in 1950s Little Italy, Manhattan. He was also a well-known television personality and familiar public intellectual in the UK and US.

Reviews

[Mr Bibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb. Delightful prose.

[Fergal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting intellectual history uncovering the influences that formed McLuhan's worldview and mature work. Miller's tone is incredibly hostile though, almost to a counter-productive degree. The more he gives McLuhan lackery the more you're inclined to give McLuhan the benefit of the doubt, especially when the internet age seems to bear out his contentions.

[Marko]

I have the german edition.

[Cam · Rating 3 out of 5]

miller doesn't like mcluhan lol

[lalala Manel · Rating 1 out of 5]

nao sei porque é que li isto