A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Primitive, and pre-alphabet people integrate time and space as one and live in an acoustic, horizonless, boundless, olfactory space, rather than in visual space. Their graphic presentation is like an x-ray. They put in everything they know, rather than only what they see. A drawing of a man hunting seal on an ice floe will show not only what is on top of the ice, but what lies underneath as well. The primitive artist twists and tilts the various possible visual aspects until they fully explain what he wishes to represent.
The Medium is the Massage, 1967, pp. 56-57.
Year: 1967
Chapter: Tribal Societies
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan