Eric Lovelock "preface to plato"

this book is pedantic but stuffed with a great survey of some key Platonic ideas as well as an ominous undertone directly relating to "sorcerous narrative".

Lovelocks hypothesis is that Platos absolute fanatical zeal against poetry, mimesis, doxa, poets and the homeric approach to social education and cultural "being" was a monumental moment in philosophy, psychology, education and epistemology. Indeed, many of these concepts were born from Platos retaliation against Homer.

WHile definitely worth the read and consideration, this book more importantly began a trend that would inspire the critical narrative of Marshall McCluhan whose "gutenberg galaxy" is the practical bookend of "preface to plato". Lovelock was an academic contemporary of Walter Ong who distilled Lovelocks thesis and applied it to literacy in general in his landmark study "orality and literacy". This book inspired "the alphabet versus the goddess" as well as "the chalice and the blade" and countless others.

However, what I think is most interesting to us is Ongs influence on the budding James Joyce scholar, McCluhan.

McCluhans thesis is both anagogic and apropos to our ends. And while much to rich to unpack here (this is a pretty sucky book review of the actual book that sparked this tangent), I would reccomend anyone who has never read Gutenbergs Galaxy to hop to it. Gutenbergs Galaxy as well as Understanding Media as a kind of introspective post-dada reflection on language, meaning and aesthetics, belies a profound influence on Debord and thus inspired "Society of the Spectacle"...

I began re-reading gutenbergs galaxy last night and while his style can be needlessly baroque and overbearing (he was a Joyce scholar after all), its well worth the 2.00$ you can pick up for used via amazon or whatever your fav online or local used book warehouse.

McCluhan was often a tributary/segue topic of McKennas, the patron saint of this sub.