Eric McLuhan Knihy

Theories of Communication is the realization of a project begun in the 1970s with Marshall McLuhan and now brought to completion by his son, Eric McLuhan. This collection of short essays assembles theories of communication from a diverse range of famous people – from Thomas Aquinas and Francis Bacon to Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound – and ends with an essay on Marshall McLuhann’ own theory of communication. While the majority of the essays have been previously published, all are seminal pieces in the field. Their presence together in one volume is a significant contribution to the overall task of understanding culture and communication in our time, and will appeal to both scholars and students interested in the work of Marshall McLuhan.

Im letzten Vortrag vor seinem plötzlichen Tod im Jahr 2018 gelang es Eric McLuhan, Sohn Marshall McLuhans, auf eindrückliche Weise sowohl die Positionen als auch Perspektiven einer bereits mehrere Jahrzehnte umfassenden interdisziplinären und internationalen ›Media Ecology‹ miteinander zu verknüpfen. Dieses Forschungsfeld thematisiert Medien nicht primär in einer eher traditionellen beziehungsweise konservativen Funktion als Vermittler von Informationen, sondern fokussiert bewusst die materielle und technologische Anwesenheit und Form von Medien innerhalb einer Kultur und betrachtet deren Einfluss auf Psyche und Verhalten von Individuen innerhalb mediatisierter Gesellschaften. Der Band möchte einen Raum schaffen für die Fortschreibung des McLuhan'sches Denkens im Kontext einer (post-)modernen ›Media Ecology‹. Inhaltlich flankiert wird Eric McLuhans hier erstmals im deutschsprachigen Diskurs publizierter Vortrag durch Beiträge von Oliver Ruf und Tobias Held sowie durch ein von Lars C. Grabbe geführtes Interview mit Eric McLuhans Sohn Andrew McLuhan.

Marshall McLuhan is celebrated as one of Canada's most original thinkers, with works like The Gutenberg Galaxy and Understanding Media establishing his global reputation and influencing our grasp of modern communication. In his later years, he collaborated with his son, Eric McLuhan, on a 'unified field' theory of human culture. This collaboration aims to retrieve an ancient understanding of the world, rooted in the power of 'logos' and its role in shaping culture and media. They argue that the invention of the alphabet led to a preference for visual conceptualizations over acoustic ones, exploring the differences between the brain's hemispheres and employing Gestalt theories to define media. The term 'media,' central to McLuhan's thought, is examined broadly, encompassing all human creations—artefacts, ideas, and innovations, from computer programs to everyday objects. The McLuhans introduce a tetrad of four questions applicable to any artefact or idea: What does it enhance? What does it render obsolete? What does it retrieve? What does it produce when pushed to extremes? Each human innovation answers these questions, and those that do not are not considered products of human creativity. Their laws provide a new scientific foundation for media studies, enabling prediction and encompassing all human activities. This New Science redefines our understanding of human creation and offers a vision for reshaping the future.

Focusing on the nature of Finnegans Wake as Menippean satire, the study delves into its aims and intricacies. McLuhan analyzes James Joyce's innovative use of language, highlighting his distinctive technique of employing ten hundred-lettered words, referred to as thunderclaps, to enhance the text's complexity and depth. This exploration offers a unique interpretation of Joyce's work, emphasizing the interplay between language and satire.