Havelock:Muse...

     The quote focuses on the origins of the popular debate that arose in the 1960s. The question seemed to regard whether orally dominated culture process and development information differently, and if so, to what degree?  The previous chapter in the book takes a brief glimpse into what the author perceives as the "top 5" publications that causes this great debate to gain notoriety.  While these books still hold value, I think the larger idea needs to be focused on. Revolution in thought is often development around the changes of that era.  The five books stated in the previous chapter all seemed to be published briefly after WWII, which gives way to the notion that the war help bring about the great debate between oral and literate cultures. WWII brought the world together as much as it brought it apart. New technologies, which were no longer needed for war, helped create a new world were communication became quicker and more accessable. Henceforth, while the author denies any of the authors had any knowledge of the others work, it seems that through the open seas, certain nations could now send more mail at a quicker pace. Again, this is theory, but this great debate seemed to sprout from an era in which thousands of new ideas and proposals were being arrange everyday. The agruement is a reflection of its time, and the now seemingly smaller world become more apparent to the authors (maybe through TV,film, etc.). They saw nations were literature was not dominate, were oral communication and oral knowledge held the majority. Because of this, the debate soon followed.