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Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Literature - Canada, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: Originally published in 1964, Marshall McLuhan's examination of the media and the implication of it for the future at best can be considered ahead of its time. The book, which examines how language, technology and speech shape human behaviour, demonstrated an accurate understanding of the emergent mass media and its potential. The tenements of the author's thesis continue to remain steadfast as the conventional forms of mass media have transformed in the more connected "New Media" that is outlined by authors like Richard Davis and Diana Owen. While a general understanding of the work can be facilitated by a cursory examination of the text, there is such a wealth of information present that critical thinking for analysis would necessitate breaking down the book into more thematic divisions. As the first and perhaps most poignant dimension for understanding McLuhan, "The Medium is the Message" is a logical place to start. Understanding that the medium is, in fact, the message is not only a departure from the conventional understanding of innovation but the primary foundation on which all of the author's perspectives are established.
About the author
Khalid Easa holds a Master's degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The title of his thesis was Ishmael's Sea Journey and the monomyth Archetypal Theory in Melville's "Moby-Dick".
He has been teaching as a lecturer at the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Tobruk since 2010. His areas of research interest include, but not limited to, literary theory, Nineteenth-Century American literature and world literature in English.
