Monday 25 March 2013

Pounding it.

I didn't think I would like reading criticism from Ezra Pound, but this books was pretty funny.  This was a required class text, otherwise I may never have read this book.  Pound is so sure of himself, that when he makes bold assertions it comes off as hilarious.  I really liked how he dissed Shakespeare in favor of Chaucer, as having lived more was was less provencal.  Way to go Chaucer, still impressing after all these years.

Not much more I can say about this text than the funny assertions and the suggestions on how to read literature like a boss.

Saturday 9 March 2013

McLuhan Massage

This must be one of the more interesting books on media that I have read.  Everything varied, nothing was constant, which I expect is meant to imitate the expanding role of media in society.  I don't want to say this is a book of platitudes, but more about short comments on how media is changing YOU.  Most of the book was images expanding or portraying the message that was written.  The relation between image and text was interesting, and sometimes the meaning was obscure.  I must say it was gripping and amazingly prescient considering it was written in 1967 and seemed to be talking about the internet. I kept thinking about my tendency to browse Reddit, and McLuhan seems to have anticipated the internet.  Quite amazing.