Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century forthcoming 2014. Ong, sj, was university professor emeritus at saint louis university, where, prior to this appointment in 1984, he was william e. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking.
Ong says that the problem with sound is that it is evanescent. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century, which will appear in spring 2014. 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. Media ecology association for one key book, orality and literacy. Studying the consequences of literacy within a literate. Orality and literacy 25 years later scholar commons santa. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural. Ong manuscript collection, to host a digital repository of collection materials, and to serve as a comprehensive resource on the life and works of walter j. Studies in the evolution of consciousness and culture pp. Ania loomba and martin orkin reading television john fiske and john hartley the semiotics of theatre and drama keir elam sexualtextual politics. His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness. This post is the first in a series of notes on walter ongs book orality and literacy. Walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures.
Writing, a process, for ong, of putting spoken language into writing is ruled by contrived, articulatable rules 81 but, for ong, this isnt a problem. 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. Reacting to walter ong by way of a critic of the book orality and literacy, emevwo a. Marxism, geothematics and orality literacy studies in the sahel. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ongs autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and.
Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new learning. Thanks to the lucidity of its style and presentation of complex thought. 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. Ong manuscript collection archives secondary orality and secondary visualism. Because he offers a detailed and intellectually developed theory of sound as presence, ong is an essential figure in twentiethcentury thought. Professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. Ong manuscript collection archives add or remove collections home walter j. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures 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. 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. Read orality and literacy 30th anniversary edition by walter j. Walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the like. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ong s autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and.
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. The institute bridges policy, research and practice to prompt action and deepen public understanding of literacy as a national asset. Ong collection web site serves as a portal to provide scholars, students, and researchers with information about the walter j. 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. The national institute for literacy, a federal government agency, is a catalyst for advancing a comprehensive literacy agenda.
Jan 23, 2007 professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. It is eminently assignable for undergraduate courses professor john ahernno comparable work on this important subject exists. Ong works continue reading walter ong on orality and literacy. Ongs book orality and literacy 1982 is likely the most widely read, cited, and translated conceptualization of orality over the last 30 years. 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. Secondary orality and secondary visualism walter j. 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.
Buy orality and literacy new accents 3 by ong, walter j. The best available summary, and the one on which i draw here, can be found in. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electr. Communication theoryorality and literacy wikibooks, open. 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. Walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and. 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. The changes, according to ong, have been momentous. 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.
Ong on the differences between orality and literacy. 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. Tuman words, tools, and technologycriticizes ong says ong gives sense that literacy offers vast improvement over earlier ways for storing verbal meaning. Ong begins with a discussion of literacy, and its assumed naturalness. Ong the politics of postmodernism linda hutcheon postcolonial shakespeares ed.
It is possible to generalize somewhat about the psychodynamics of primary oral cultures, that is, of oral cultures untouched by writing. His account has more than just historical interest, however, as there remain in the world today many cultures that are primarily oral. Jul 24, 2009 walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91. I have styled primary orality, the orality of cultures with no knowl edge at all of. Orality and literacy download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Deeply typographic folk forget to think ofwords as primarilyoral, as events, and hence as necessar ily powered. Early literacy in context article pdf available in sage open 51 january 2015 with 3,719 reads how we measure reads. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy. Some psychodynamics of orality in the book orality and literacy, walter ong examines primary oral cultures. Ong, 9780415538381, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide.
Literacy and orality in ancient greece by rosalind thomas. 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. The cognitive correlates of print exposure keith e. Buy orality and literacy new accents 2 by ong, walter j. 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. The technologizing of the word, john hartley orality and literary. 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 l iterary history is no longer entirely literary. 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. As i read ong, i kept having what i will call ongmoments. The issue draws on contributions to a series of events on the theme that took place in london.
Sep 02, 2009 walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Full text of ong walter, orality and literacy see other formats. Ong does not waste ink in praise of reading and writing. 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. Orality and literacy two crucial pathways into written language. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. 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. Ong s extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Haren professor of english and professor of humanities in psychiatry in the school of medicine.
In 1978 ong served as elected president of the modern language association. The technologizing of the word 30th anniversary ed 3rd ed new accents orality and literacy. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Ongs extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Journal of communication, v30 n1 p197204 win 1980 treats orality and literacy in two ways. There are oral productions that are very literary in. 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. Orality, literacy, and medieval textualization walter j. 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. As he says, to call writing artificial is not to condemn it, but to. In the book orality and literacy, walter ong mentions a primary oral culture and a chirographic culture.
1219 750 744 1018 1400 248 1370 512 520 206 467 298 521 58 944 669 191 959 598 1452 1504 194 1214 336 880 1057 384 767 426 1469 1348 978 380 1065 192 672 1055 915 859 1200 609