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      Marshall McLuhan, 1911–1980.

       Judith Fitzgerald

      Award-winning poet, music critic, and literary journalist Judith Fitzgerald began her career in the early 1980s as an Entertainment writer with The Globe and Mail (where her work earned the Fiona Mee Literary Journalism Award). Her poetry, reviews, profiles, interviews, criticism, editorials, features, and columns have been published in numerous national and international anthologies, periodicals, journals, and newspapers.

      Fitzgerald has published sixteen books of poetry, including Victory, Rapturous Chronicles, River, and Twenty-Six Ways Out of This World. She has received a Writers’ Choice Award and has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, the Pat Lowther Award, and the Trillium Award. Fitzgerald’s best-selling Building a Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan and Lilith Fair (Quarry) was released in December 1997; its update, Sarah McLachlan: Building a Mystery (New Millennium Edition: Quarry/ Omnibus), was published in June 2000.

      In 1994, with the generous cooperation of the University of Windsor’s Assumption College and Department of Communications, Fitzgerald conceived and coordinated Makin’ McLuhan, a multimedia colloquium the CBC hailed as “an invigorating event which goes a long way towards reclaiming and reaffirming the reputation of one of Canada’s foremost thinkers.”

      THE QUEST LIBRARY

      is edited by

      Rhonda Bailey

      The Editorial Board is composed of

      Lynne Bowen

      Janet Lunn

      T.F. Rigelhof

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       In the same collection

      Ven Begamudré, Isaac Brock: Larger Than Life.

      Lynne Bowen, Robert Dunsmuir: Laird of the Mines.

      Kate Braid, Emily Carr: Rebel Artist.

      William Chalmers, George Mercer Dawson: Geologist, Scientist, Explorer.

      Stephen Eaton Hume, Frederick Banting: Hero, Healer, Artist.

      Naïm Kattan, A.M. Klein: Poet and Prophet.

      Betty Keller, Pauline Johnson: First Aboriginal Voice of Canada.

      Michelle Labrèche-Larouche, Emma Albani: International Star.

      Dave Margoshes, Tommy Douglas: Building the New Society.

      Raymond Plante, Jacques Plante: Behind the Mask.

      T.F. Rigelhof, George Grant: Redefining Canada.

      Arthur Slade, john Diefenbaker. An Appointment with Destiny.

      John Wilson, John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas.

      John Wilson, Norman Bethune: A Life of Passionate Conviction.

      Rachel Wyatt, Agnes Macphail: Champion of the Underdog.

      Marshall McLuhan

      

JUDITH FITZGERALD

      Marshall MCLUHAN

      

WISE GUY

      Copyright © 2001 Judith Fitzgerald and XYZ Publishing.

      All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.

       Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

      Fitzgerald, Judith

      Marshall McLuhan: wise guy

      (The Quest Library; 14).

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 0-9688166-7-3

      1. McLuhan, Marshall, 1911–1980. 2. Mass media specialists – Canada – Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Quest library; 14.

      P92.5.M3F57 2001 302.23’092 C200-1941199-5

      Legal Deposit: Fourth quarter 2001

      National Library of Canada

      Bibliothèque nationale du Québec

      XYZ Publishing acknowledges the support of The Quest Library project by the Canadian Studies Program and the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.

      The publishers further acknowledge the financial support our publishing program receives from The Canada Council for the Arts, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, and the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles.

      Chronology: Judith Fitzgerald

      Index: Darcy Dunton

      Layout: Édiscript enr.

      Cover design: Zirval Design

      Cover illustration: Francine Auger

      Photo research: Cynthia Cecil

      Editorial assistant: Cheryl Taylor

      Printed and bound in Canada

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Web site: www.xyzedit.com	E-mail: [email protected]

      Wise Guy is a literary study of Marshall McLuhan’s life and career. The quotation of phrases from books written by Marshall McLuhan and copyrighted by his publishers is intended to illustrate the biographical information and criticism of McLuhan’s work presented by the author and thus constitutes fair dealing under Canadian copyright law.

      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