Page 21 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 21
Genre in the Technological Remediation of Culture 21
19th century. The image that we have of ourselves, collectively, in the West-
ern world is from that period (McLuhan and Powers 1989, viii).
But in the age of rapid electronic data transfer, changes are happening
so fast that the rearview mirror no longer works, so we must learn, like
the artist, how to predict the future:
Humankind can no longer, thorugh fear of the unknown, expend so much
energy translating everything new into something old, but must do what
the artist does: develop the habit of approaching the present as a task, as an
environment that needs to be discussed, analyzed, coped with so that the
future may be seen more clearly (McLuhan and Powers 1989, viii).
Walter Benjamin is also aware of the substantive role of technology
when he writes that “during long periods of history, the mode of human
sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence. The
manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in
which it is accomplished, is determined not only by nature but by histor-
ical circumstances as well” (Benjamin 1969, 222). Although Benjamin is
primarily concerned with the influence of technology on art, as demon-
strated by the gradual disintegration of aura in the transition from elite
to popular culture, he emphasizes that the process is more general and
extends far beyond the boundaries of art. In cultural terms, the decay of
aura is socially determined by the fact that technical reproduction ena-
bles the ardent
desire of today’s masses … to bring things closer spatially and humanly,
equal to their bent toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by
accepting, or consuming, its reproduction (Bejamin 1969).
Today, any man ‘can lay claim to be recorded’ the process is similar for
literature as well as for film which was then still a new medium:
For centuries a small number of writers were confronted by many thou-
sands of readers. This changed toward the end of the last century. With
the increasing extension of the press, which kept placing new political, re-
ligious, scientific, professional, and local organs before the readers, an in-
creasing number of readers became writers—at first, occasional ones. It
began with the daily press opening to its readers space for ‘letters to the ed-
itor.’ And today there is hardly a gainfully employed European who could
not, in principle, find an opportunity to publish somewhere or other com-
ments on his work, grievances, documentary reports, or that sort of thing.
Thus, the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic
19th century. The image that we have of ourselves, collectively, in the West-
ern world is from that period (McLuhan and Powers 1989, viii).
But in the age of rapid electronic data transfer, changes are happening
so fast that the rearview mirror no longer works, so we must learn, like
the artist, how to predict the future:
Humankind can no longer, thorugh fear of the unknown, expend so much
energy translating everything new into something old, but must do what
the artist does: develop the habit of approaching the present as a task, as an
environment that needs to be discussed, analyzed, coped with so that the
future may be seen more clearly (McLuhan and Powers 1989, viii).
Walter Benjamin is also aware of the substantive role of technology
when he writes that “during long periods of history, the mode of human
sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence. The
manner in which human sense perception is organized, the medium in
which it is accomplished, is determined not only by nature but by histor-
ical circumstances as well” (Benjamin 1969, 222). Although Benjamin is
primarily concerned with the influence of technology on art, as demon-
strated by the gradual disintegration of aura in the transition from elite
to popular culture, he emphasizes that the process is more general and
extends far beyond the boundaries of art. In cultural terms, the decay of
aura is socially determined by the fact that technical reproduction ena-
bles the ardent
desire of today’s masses … to bring things closer spatially and humanly,
equal to their bent toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by
accepting, or consuming, its reproduction (Bejamin 1969).
Today, any man ‘can lay claim to be recorded’ the process is similar for
literature as well as for film which was then still a new medium:
For centuries a small number of writers were confronted by many thou-
sands of readers. This changed toward the end of the last century. With
the increasing extension of the press, which kept placing new political, re-
ligious, scientific, professional, and local organs before the readers, an in-
creasing number of readers became writers—at first, occasional ones. It
began with the daily press opening to its readers space for ‘letters to the ed-
itor.’ And today there is hardly a gainfully employed European who could
not, in principle, find an opportunity to publish somewhere or other com-
ments on his work, grievances, documentary reports, or that sort of thing.
Thus, the distinction between author and public is about to lose its basic
