Marshall McLuhan

Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar (1911-1980) · Canada · Academics · Died at 69

Marshall McLuhan is read about 996 times a day, in 67 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

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He said "the medium is the message" decades before anyone understood what that meant, and sketched the internet thirty years before it existed. McLuhan made a career of seeing the shape of the future while standing in the analog past.

Academics Academic Philosophy Literature Canada Americas 20th Century

A life in dates

1980Died31 December 19801968Molson PrizeAward1962Governor General's Award for English-language non-fictionAward1954“Human perception is literally incarnation.”In their words"Catholic Humanism and Modern Letters", in Christian Humanism in Letters, The McAuley Lectures (1954), p. 49-67Read the whole statement

1951“There is a real, living unity in our time, as in any other, but it lies submerged under a superficial hubbub of sensation.”In their words14 March 1951Letter to Harold Adam Innis (14 March 1951), published in Letters of Marshall McLuhan (1987), p. 223Read the whole statement

“The business of art is no longer the communication of thoughts or feelings which are to be conceptually ordered, but a direct participation in an experience.”In their words14 March 1951Letter to Harold Adam Innis (14 March 1951), published in Essential McLuhan (1995), edited by Eric McLuhan and Frank Zingrone, p. 73Read the whole statement

“Nobody can doubt that the entire range of applied science contributes to the very format of a newspaper. But the headline is a feature which began with the Napoleonic Wars.”In their wordsp. 7Read the whole statement

“The ordinary person senses the greatness of the odds against him even without thought or analysis, and he adapts his attitudes unconsciously.”In their wordsp. 21Read the whole statement

1948“America is 100% 18th Century. The 18th century had chucked out the principle of metaphor and analogy - the basic fact that as A is to B so is C to D. AB:CD.”In their words21 December 1948Letter to Ezra Pound (21 December 1948)Read the whole statement

1911Born21 July 1911

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Marshall McLuhan

Douglas Coupland @ The Waldorf (5765992384)

Le message, c'est

Marshall McLuhan 1967 (cropped) (1)

Marshall McLuhan 1967 (cropped) (2)

Marshall McLuhan 1967 (cropped) (3)

Marshall McLuhan 1967 (cropped)

Marshall McLuhan 1967

In their own words 10

Marshall McLuhan

10 statements, newest first

Human perception is literally incarnation.
1954, "Catholic Humanism and Modern Letters", in Christian Humanism in Letters, The McAuley Lectures (1954), p. 49-67, Own words
Ads represent the main channel of intellectual and artistic effort in the modern world.
1953, Commonweal, Vol. 58 (1953), p. 557, Own words
There is a real, living unity in our time, as in any other, but it lies submerged under a superficial hubbub of sensation.
Mar 14, 1951, Letter to Harold Adam Innis (14 March 1951), published in Letters of Marshall McLuhan (1987), p. 223, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Molson Prize1968

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction1962

Companion of the Order of Canada

Person of National Historic Significance

Family

Marshall McLuhan

Partners

Spouse Corinne Lewis

Child Eric McLuhan

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About this person

Born in Winnipeg in 1911, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba and Cambridge before teaching English at universities across the U.S. and Canada. In 1946 he landed at the University of Toronto and stayed put. There he wrote Understanding Media and coined "the medium is the message" and "global village" - phrases that made him a media-circuit fixture in the late 1960s. By the early '70s his influence had cooled, and he died in 1980 with his reputation still contested in academic circles. Then the internet arrived, and suddenly the man who predicted the World Wide Web three decades early didn't sound so strange anymore.

Country

Canada

In common with Marshall

Jeff GoldblumAlso in Annie Hall (1977)

Shelley DuvallAlso in Annie Hall (1977)

Edward BinnsAlso in This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage (1967)

Christopher WalkenAlso in Annie Hall (1977)

Beverly D'AngeloAlso in Annie Hall (1977)Ernest PintoffAlso in This Is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is The Massage (1967)

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