Walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91. This volume aims to prompt debate regarding the transformations needed for literary historians to provide a more balanced and fuller appreciation of what we call literature, one that acknowledges the interdependence of oral storytelling and written expression, whether in. Orality and literacy download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Ong collection web site serves as a portal to provide scholars, students, and researchers with information about the walter j. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century forthcoming 2014. Ong s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact on philosophical, theological, scientific and literary thought. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact, isbn 9780415538374 buy the orality and literacy. Ong manuscript collection archives add or remove collections home walter j. Deeply typographic folk forget to think ofwords as primarilyoral, as events, and hence as necessar ily powered. Haren professor of english and professor of humanities in psychiatry in the school of medicine. Literacy and orality in ancient greece by rosalind thomas. Studies in the evolution of consciousness and culture pp. It is possible to generalize somewhat about the psychodynamics of primary oral cultures, that is, of oral cultures untouched by writing.
His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness. The national institute for literacy, a federal government agency, is a catalyst for advancing a comprehensive literacy agenda. Orality and literacy two crucial pathways into written language. Ongs extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century, which will appear in spring 2014. Ong s extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture.
The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the like. Ong the politics of postmodernism linda hutcheon postcolonial shakespeares ed. As i read ong, i kept having what i will call ongmoments. In orality and literacy, walter ong gives a fascinating account of how the development of writing and moveable print has forever changed the way people think and process information.
Read orality and literacy 30th anniversary edition by walter j. Orality and literacy 25 years later semantic scholar. Talking is natural every person will learn how to talk conversation will flow naturally because you do not have to be aware of grammar rules you can speak without being conscious writing can be seen as artificial because putting thoughts to paper requires you to think and consciously contrive articulable rules this is a good thing because it expands human potential. Ong works continue reading walter ong on orality and literacy. Professor ong has managed to synthesize an incredible amount of thought and at the same time has carried some of his earlier ideas still further. The technologizing of the word, provides some helpful reflection on the distinctive nature of cultures which have not been totally subsumed by the values of a literacy and mass media.
The technologizing of the word 30th anniversary ed 3rd ed new accents orality and literacy. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ongs autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and. Some psychodynamics of orality in the book orality and literacy, walter ong examines primary oral cultures. Reacting to walter ong by way of a critic of the book orality and literacy, emevwo a. The institute bridges policy, research and practice to prompt action and deepen public understanding of literacy as a national asset. One of the best and most challenging books ive read in recent months is walter j. Ongs book orality and literacy 1982 is likely the most widely read, cited, and translated conceptualization of orality over the last 30 years. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Ong does not waste ink in praise of reading and writing. Ong calls writing a technological revolution that not only transformed societies, but also restructured the way individuals think and feel in the privacy of their own minds. Sep 02, 2009 walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Ong manuscript collection archives secondary orality and secondary visualism. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness.
Some of these folks cant read, but many who can at a basic level are. Studying the consequences of literacy within a literate. As he says, to call writing artificial is not to condemn it, but to. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electr. Thanks to the lucidity of its style and presentation of complex thought. Ong l iterary history is no longer entirely literary.
Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. Ania loomba and martin orkin reading television john fiske and john hartley the semiotics of theatre and drama keir elam sexualtextual politics. For oral cultures, words are only represented as sounds. Ong 30 november 1912 12 august 2003 was university professor emeritus at saint louis university, usa, where he was previously professor of english and professor of humanities in psychiatry.
Media ecology association for one key book, orality and literacy. Wright sussex are coediting orality and literacy, a special issue of 19. Orality and literacy is but the latest in a series of books in which ong has explored the implications of this revised understanding of human identity. Buy orality and literacy new accents 3 by ong, walter j. It is eminently assignable for undergraduate courses professor john ahernno comparable work on this important subject exists. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural. He considers the impact of orality literacy studies not only on literary criticism and theory but on our very understanding of what it is to be a human. The new electric and electronic forms of communications which are now referred to as mass media, that is as technologies of mass communication blur the two aspects.
Ong, 9780415538381, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Because he offers a detailed and intellectually developed theory of sound as presence, ong is an essential figure in twentiethcentury thought. As the paradoxical relationships of orality and literacy in rhetoric and learned latin suggest, the transition from orality to literacy was slow ong 1967b, pp. Tuman words, tools, and technologycriticizes ong says ong gives sense that literacy offers vast improvement over earlier ways for storing verbal meaning. The best available summary, and the one on which i draw here, can be found in. The changes, according to ong, have been momentous.
Marxism, geothematics and orality literacy studies in the sahel. It explores the changes in consciousness that have been wrought by the introduction of literacy and then print into human culture. If we are sensitive now to intertextuality, to the dependency of texts for their existence and meaning on other texts, we are sensitive also to the historical origins of literature out of oral verbalization. Ong, sj, was university professor emeritus at saint louis university, where, prior to this appointment in 1984, he was william e. This classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures offering a very clear account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing, print and electronic technology. Walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and.
He notes the benefits of literacy, but his foundational point is that writing and subsequent print culture came from something from a rich and welldeveloped culture of speech speech orality is more basic to humanity than literacy. Orality and literacy communicating by computers the oralliteracy continuum ediscourses moreover, chaika, 2008 explains that there is no sharp break between oral and literate language. Early literacy in context article pdf available in sage open 51 january 2015 with 3,719 reads how we measure reads. Jan 23, 2007 professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. Walter jackson ong sj november 30, 1912 august 12, 2003 was an american jesuit priest, professor of english literature, cultural and religious historian and philosopher. This post is the first in a series of notes on walter ongs book orality and literacy. I have styled primary orality, the orality of cultures with no knowl edge at all of. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ong s autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and.
Ong begins with a discussion of literacy, and its assumed naturalness. There are oral productions that are very literary in. Orality, literacy, and medieval textualization walter j. Orality and literacy 25 years later scholar commons santa. His account has more than just historical interest, however, as there remain in the world today many cultures that are primarily oral. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the. Ong says that the problem with sound is that it is evanescent. Secondary orality and secondary visualism walter j. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures. The middle ages used texts far more than ancient greece and rome, teachers lectured on texts in the universities, and yet never tested knowledge or intellectual. In the book orality and literacy, walter ong mentions a primary oral culture and a chirographic culture. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy. Jul 24, 2009 walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91.
Communication theoryorality and literacy wikibooks, open. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and literate cultures in these terms. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. The former has no knowledge of the written language whereas the latter is rooted from the oral culture and is dominated by writing and print cultures. Full text of ong walter, orality and literacy see other formats. Walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Ong s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact, isbn 9780415538374 buy the orality and literacy. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures thought. The cognitive correlates of print exposure keith e. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new learning. Professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific. In 1978 ong served as elected president of the modern language association.
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