Re: Anyone know what "Macluuewenesk" means?

[william brooke <wbrooke@uniserve.com>]

pbm972+@pitt.edu wrote:

> On the "At home with GG" cd, he says that something is "Maclewanesk."
> Has to be spelled wrong here.  Any ideas who Mcalewan is and what
> Macalewanesk would refer to?
>
> Sean

Although I have not experienced the CD of which you speak, I believe
thatthis refers to Marshall McLuhan (McLuhanesque), a late Canadian
professor(1911-1980) who is perhaps most famous for "The Medium Is the
Massage,"
(1967), which not only combined words and images in a revolutionary
manner
(imitated ever since, thus altering general perceptions of what a book
"ought to
be") but also set forth some newfound ideas about process and reality.
The
phrase "global village" came from this production.

The opening paragraph of the book is as such (this, coupled with the
following quotes, ought to give a roundabout definition of
"McLuhanesque"):

"The medium, or process, of our time--electric technology--is reshaping
and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of
our
personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically
every
thought, every action, and ever institution formerly taken for granted.
Everything is changing--you, your family, your neighborhood, your
education, your job, your government, your relation to "the others."
And they're changing dramatically."

This is, of course, a mere beginning. The book is a very quick read,
and worth the price at a used book-store.

To give you a few ideas about Professor McLuhan's character, a few
quotes:

"I have no theories whatever about anything. I make observations
by way of discovering contours, lines of force, and pressures.
I satirize at all times, and my hyperboles are as nothing compared to
the events to which they refer."

"You don't like those ideas? I got others."

McLuhan: "What is truth?"
mcluhan: "Eet ees whatever upsets zee applecart."

A story from some news-article on line (I copied and pasted
this quite some time ago--a year, two? I can't recall):
"...By the time he arrived at Cambridge, McLuhan had
acquired what is perhaps the defining trait of autodidacts--
a kernel of personal crankiness and a resistance to established
authority.
    "In his role as social, political, and economic analyst,
McLuhan was a clown. His speeches and public pronouncements
helped give rise to a generation of affluent futurists and business
consultants skilled at telling executives what they liked to hear,
but McLuhan's own predictions and business ideas were often
hilariously ill-conceived. If his urine-odor remover failed to
stimulate the instincts of business executives, perhaps McLuhan
could talk Tom Wolfe into collaborating on a Broadway production
of a play in which the media appeared on stage as characters.
This aborted script followed two other McLuhan attempts at musicals,
including one in which Russian Elvis fans were given a shot at
governing America."

Once upon a time, I read (in a book about GG) the opinion
of one fellow who felt that the three men who best epitomized
the twentieth century man were T.S. Eliot, Marshall McLuhan
and Glenn Gould. Perhaps the connexions above may persuade you
to hear things from a similar perspective.

I personally find McLuhan a wee bit jaded for the twenty-first century,
yet there is validity in his works. Although his radical hopscotching
in the world of academia often seems like nothing more
than the product of an idle prankster, I feel obligated to note his
importance to culture in the late twentieth century. In this particular
respect, he stands on very level ground with our boy Glenn.
I hope my prattling has been helpful.

Merry Part,

Will