A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Another theme of the Wake that helps in the understanding of the paradoxical shift from cliche to archetype is "pastimes are past times." The dominant technologies of one age become the games and pastimes of a later age. In the twentieth century the number of past times that are simultaneously available is so vast as to create cultural anarchy.
From Cliché to Archetype with Wilfred Watson (1970), p 99
Year: 1970
↪ Also at #3352, #4253, #6089, #7152, #7154
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan