[lbo-talk] media

[Doug Henwood]

The other day, when I was trying to recall Harold Bloom's argument about why Yeats's "The Second Coming" is a reactionary poem, Michael Pollak helpfully scanned and posted the passage. I tried reading it and felt very frustrated - it was all passing me by. I wondered if my brain was atrophying, or if I'd become a philistine, or something else horrific. Just before he posted it, though, I'd ordered a copy of the book, which just arrived today. I was just reading the passage and found it thoroughly comprehensible and stimulating - it reminded me of how I was seduced by Bloom's influence and still sorta remain under his spell all these years later.

So I'm wondering - what is it about the screen vs. the page? Is it just that I'm from a generation raised on print, habituated to the idea that serious writing is ink on paper and stuff on the screen is basically just news or gossip, totally in-the-moment stuff? Or is it something about the media themselves? Anyone else have this experience?

Doug