Orality and Literacy: 30th Anniversary Edition (New Accents) 3rd Edition

by Walter J. Ong (Author),‎ John Hartley (Foreword)

54 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0415538381

ISBN-10: 0415538386

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Walter J. 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.

This thirtieth anniversary edition – coinciding with Ong’s centenary year – reproduces his best-known and most influential book in full and brings it up to date with two new exploratory essays by cultural writer and critic John Hartley.

Hartley provides:

A scene-setting chapter that situates Ong’s work within the historical and disciplinary context of post-war Americanism and the rise of communication and media studies;

A closing chapter that follows up Ong’s work on orality and literacy in relation to evolving media forms, with a discussion of recent criticisms of Ong’s approach, and an assessment of his concept of the ‘evolution of consciousness’;

Extensive references to recent scholarship on orality, literacy and the study of knowledge technologies, tracing changes in how we know what we know.

These illuminating essays contextualize Ong within recent intellectual history, and display his work’s continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature and the media, as well as that of psychology, education and sociological thought.

Orality and Literacy: 30th Anniversary Edition (New Accents) [Special Edition]

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter J. 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. His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness.

John Hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural impact of television, journalism, popular media and creative industries. He is Professor of Cultural Science and Director of the Centre for Culture & Technology at Curtin University, Western Australia.

Series: New Accents
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Routledge; 3 edition (November 3, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0415538386
ISBN-13: 978-0415538381
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 54 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #451 in Books > Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Communication
- #1729 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory
- #1947 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods

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Savannah

An Amazing Writer With a Compelling Argument

October 2, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Ong is one of the most mind-blowing writers in the field of literacy studies/linguistics, and yet he manages to write such complex concepts in very digestable, flowing language. It takes a true master of his subject to be able to make his work so approachable while simultaneously pushing you to expand your notion of what impacts the transition from oral to a text-based/visual society will have.

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Marc

Fascinating

September 12, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The orality part is truly fascinating. This is a topic that I had never thought about and it is truly fascinating.
The literacy part, not so much, although the transition from orality to literacy is very interesting.
A must read.

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Michael S. Vandy

Blow your mind wide open on this... AWESOME!!!!

November 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you want to blow your cranium wide open with considerations of the history and meaning of oral culture (vs. literary culture)... then this book will certainly do that. What a strange and wonderous subject it is. I read this book to gain deeper insight into McLuhan's use of the terms orality and literacy... and I'm glad I did. Ong is an INCREDIBLY clear writer on a subject which... in lesser hands... or perhaps in the "greater hands" of some half-witted intellectual... might have descended the reader into academic jargon. But Ong's command of the subject and his obvious humanism keeps him from abusing the reader or torturing the subject. The book isn't always super-exciting... but sometimes it is... and sometimes it's just unbelievably enlightening. Like all great things... you have to show up and wait and be ready. Otherwise, you will never know.

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rhytre

The best.

October 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

The standard reference on the subject, written by a highly respected scholar on issues of literacy and its consequences.

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Kyle Whitefeather

Definitive information, and interesting concepts.

October 27, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Imagine a world that does not use print. You cannot. We simply use typography and chirography so much, it makes such a task pretty tough. However, Ong does an excellent job of making that task easier. In "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word", Ong covers fundamental differences between oral and literate cultures, comparing and contrasting both to explain how previous stages of literacy, or non-literacy, have gotten us to our current mode of thought. Although this book was written in 1982, it still has heavy cultural relevance; maybe even more-so with the development of technology.

Finding his point is sometimes difficult. Ong's writing is highly academic, and it can be tough to understand what he is actually trying to say at times. Sentences can go on for paragraphs, and overuses of 'that' and other pro-nouns are abundant, and can thoroughly confuse the reader. Besides for the writing style, when you actually grasp a concept, the contextual information provided surly reinforces the idea.

Ong's main objective is to prove there is a difference in the way literate and non-literate people process and remember information, mainly in their environment. He does this with very strong logical arguments and well-studied information. One of the most interesting idea this book presents, is the idea of literacy turning people inward on themselves.

Even though this book was initially released before the massive expansion of the internet, this topic is almost more relevant now than it was at that time. Nearly everyone today has some sort of electronic media using 'print'(facebook, myspace) that makes any information you receive completely internalized. Ong backs this by writing about how sound is internalized as something coming from the real 'human' world. Words really exist as ink on paper in the real world, but without the meaning projected on them by us, they are essentially non-existent. However, an utterance will still be an utterance whether you understand it or not, that is to say you are still effected by it when you hear it.

Ong also refers to the epics of Homer, and the effect they had. This where the some of the most interesting content of the book lies. He says oral people did not have a way to remember, verbatim, things such as an epic so formulas and epitaphs were developed in order to come close to the original. Once writing was invented, these formulas were no longer needed, because writing serves as a function of memory, replacing older methods.

Although this book can seem repetitive, and at times is, "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word" is definitely something every literate should read to get a better grasp on what is really behind the word.

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Donny Rice

The information is for the most part easily accessible and digestible

October 3, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Really interesting and relevant read. I had it for a college course. The information is for the most part easily accessible and digestible, though Ong sometimes goes off on tangents that I struggled to follow. There's some criticism on the accuracy of his claim on how writing affects human consciousness, but it's still a fun theory and has some practical uses.

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Amazon Customer

Five Stars

December 16, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An instrumental work and understanding or the extraordinary and sustaining change in human thought outlined by Ong.

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christopher wyecross

orality and literacy

April 4, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is extremely helpful in analyzing a field of study that rarely sees the light of day. Perhaps one reason for this is the complexity of the subject matter. However, the author is adroit in presenting all aspects of the topic so that we are able to at understand more clearly what is intrinsic to the topic. I would recommend this book to both the scholar and the beginner alike, but it requires patience and rereading to make headway in what is a fascinating subject.

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Most recent customer reviews

Five Stars

Very odor condition

Published 1 year ago by J. Blakemore

The utter lack of scientific support in the field of ...

The utter lack of scientific support in the field of Linguistics is shocking. If this man had taken the time to speak with one he would find that much of his conclusions fell...Read more

Published 1 year ago by Elizabeth Gillian Carre

This book is a "must-read" for anyone who wants to ...

This book is a "must-read" for anyone who wants to understand how the changes in the ways we use language have affected us.

Published 1 year ago by thechatterboxman

Convincing, Clear, and Profound

Through simple arguments Orality and Literacy describes differences between oral and literate cultures. And it does so lucidly.Read more

Published 1 year ago by Nathan Conroy

This book should be in everyone's library

One of my favorite books. How the act of reading transforms a human so profoundly, even transforms how one thinks or how one perceives the senses. The media is the message.

Published 1 year ago by Florescence

From heart to cloud

Can't pretend to have understood all of O&L, but I believe I took away several philosophically-useful concepts. Glad I read it.

Published 1 year ago by Eric C. Sanders

Difficult but worth it

Difficult book to read. I had to read most of it twice, probably because it uses a lot of terminology that I wasn't familiar with. But it was worth the effort.

Published 1 year ago by BJO

Good

Very good

Published on September 29, 2015 by Seth Seubert

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