Page:Knight (1975) Past, Future and the Problem of Communication in the Work of V V Khlebnikov.djvu/116

108 Chapter Fifteen:

THE ELECTRONICS REVOLUTION: McLUHAN.

Khlebnikov's association of the electronic future with the pre-historic past is an idea which is also central to the theories of the 'media-philosopher' Marshall McLuhan. For McLuhan, the electronic future will be a 'return’ to the pre-literate past in the sense that it will be an age, once again, of the spoken word. The primacy of writing, and of the culture of literacy, is destined to be overthrown by the age of Radio and TV.