“The future of the book is the blurb” is a quote from Marshal McLuhan that appears in in the Spring 2012 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly.

A photo of McLuhan appears in the magazine along with the following blurb:

“Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) wrote at age twenty that he would never become an academic; he went on to obtain a BA, an MA, a PhD, and teaching positions in four universities. He published Understanding Media in 1964. Quoted more often than he is read, he once observed, ‘The future of the book is the blurb.’”

McLuhan did indeed indicate that he did not wish to become an academic. He was, however, as I recall from what I have read, referring to an academic career as it was defined at the time, in the early 1930s, that he made this statement.

As it turned out, he did not have a traditional academic career.

I’m reminded of Jane Jacobs. She was required to withdraw from an academic career path. Instead, she chose a career path, as a professional writer, that arguably led her to have a much stronger impact on the world of ideas than would have been the case if she had followed a traditional academic career.

I like McLuhan’s quote about the future of the book as the blurb.

There is much to be said for the close study of blurbs, taglines, message tracks, and branding positions.

I like to read McLuhan’s original texts at some length, from time to time.

I was very much impressed when I learned that some of his early academic work involved the study of rhetoric.

The academic study of rhetoric provided McLuhan with a framework that was helpful — along with help from a public relations firm at a crucial stage of his career development — in enabling him to communicate his ideas so effectively.

McLuhan had a keen  interest in the interconnectedness of all things.

This interest, which is not typical of academia , was a key source of his impact on the world of ideas.

Blurbs warrant study

Blurbs either make sense or they don’t.

Close study enables a person to distinguish an evidence-based blurb from one that lacks substance.

Based on a brief article that Alice Munro wrote in 1982 about how she reads a short story, I’ve found it useful to read pretty well any piece of writing by starting anywhere, such as in the middle, and making a close study of a single paragraph or page.

If the one paragraph — which can be likened to a blurb — makes good sense, I continue reading.  Occasionally, I’ll read the entire book. Or else I’ll write out a short passage in a notebook, for future reference.

If it doesn’t make sense, I may also continue reading, because there can be much value in the study of texts that lack substance, or I may stop reading.

This is for me a wonderful way to work. I keep up to date with concepts and ideas, achieve some level of depth of understanding, and yet have plenty of time for other pursuits, such as helping with Jane’s Walks, heritage bike rides, and other projects related to conversations focusing on local history.

Northrop Frye spoke of garrison mentality and condominium mentalities

I am very much impressed by the work of Northrop Frye, Marshall McLuhan, Alice Munro, and Margaret Atwood. Of the latter two writers, I have a particular interest in their non-fiction work and what they say in interviews.

I like to think of them as among the greatest outcomes, two centuries later, of the War of 1812.

From time to time I buy a newsstand copy of The Walrus. The May 2012 issue features an article by Kyle Carsten Wyatt discussing two of Northrop Frye’s blurbs (as I like to call them).

The blurbs are:

(1) the garrison mentality, which serves to bring “social activity into an intense if constricted focus,” and which is characterised by military and other priorities that “tend to obliterate the creative impulse,” and

(2) “the condominium mentality, which is neither social nor creative, and which forces the cultural energies of the country into forming a kind of counter-environment.”

The article explains that a counter-environment “does little to encourage residents to explore the larger community, to mingle and interact with outsiders. It doesn’t enforce prudery [which the garrison mentality had reinfoced, according to Frye], but neither does it foster creativity.”

In the article Kyle Carston Wyatt, managing editor of The Walrus, discusses in some detail the concept of a condomuniums as gated communities.

The discussion brings to mind the origins and early history of Long Branch as a late-1800s gated community.

Until the 1880s, Long Branch was a rural community. James Eastwood, who had bought land from the descendants of Colonel Samuel Smith, has been described as understanding the investment potential of developing the area as a resort.

He sold some of his land to Thomas Wilkie,  who at one point in his career needed take a break to restore his health. He had recuperated in the country setting in what is now Long Branch. Around that time he was aware that affluent citizens from Toronto were seeking rest and recreation in Muskoka and Lake Simcoe.

He promoted the Long Branch resort, a socially segregated gated community, which served to keep out rowdy intruders, as an alternative destination. The resort was part of a trend across North America focusing on the restorative powers of nature in response to urbanization.

The gated community known as the Long Branch Resort no longer exists.

The article in The Walrus concludes with a reference to the 1962 CBC Massey Lectures in which Northrop Frye emphasized the importance of education in literature and the arts, and cautioned against an overly raid sense of cultural change.

“People who can do nothing but accept their social mythology can only try,” Frye is quoted in the article as remarking, “to huddle together when they feel frightened or threatened, and in that situation their clichés turn hsyterical.”

The article concludes with the comment that condos serve a purpose, including “increased desnity, walkable communities, simpler upkeep, smaller footprints, and democratized poperty ownership.”

However, says the author, who happens to live in a condo, “in terms of social integration and cultural creativity, the condo is still a beta concept, which we haven’t yet managed to fully troubleshoot.”