Marshall McLuhan's daughter — reportedly his favourite — and a close friend of Bob, who visited her in Oregon in 2013. Through Mary the dialogues get the household from the inside: a strict Catholic home where, in her telling, Marshall "sat on the couch reading poetry" while Corinne made the family. The page follows her own life too — the Gossage years in San Francisco, a career in California education, and her partnership with David Greenberg.
Across the dialogues
The household from the inside — Bob's friendship with Mary and her hard verdict on growing up McLuhan
The daughter's memory splits the ideal from the labor — Marshall loved family as a concept while Corinne carried its actual making, a domestic echo of the ground gap he spent his life theorizing.
"Mary said all he did was sit on the couch reading poetry, and Corinne ran the family — or created a sense of familiness. He was in love with the idea of family."
Mary left Bob a voicemail on July 25, 2019 asking to talk; she died days later, on July 31, and he heard it only afterward.
"She was asking me to get in touch with her — and that was July 25th. I hadn't talked to her in about six months."
In 2013 Mary told Bob he was "exactly like my father — you can talk to anybody," watching him converse with her household helpers.
"She said, you know, you're exactly like my father. You can talk to anybody."
Mary in California — the Gossage years, the Department of Education, and David Greenberg
Mary worked in California's Department of Education and there met David Greenberg, who became her partner.
"She got a job in the Department of Education for California."
Mary was the most active American presence of the McLuhan family — more so in California than Eric was in Toronto through the 1960s–70s.
"She was the most active American part of the McLuhan family."
Mary hitchhiked to Banff (~1965), landed penniless in San Francisco, and on Marshall's advice lived with the Gossages for two years.
"She had hitchhiked to Banff around '65, '66, and instead of going back to university she went down to San Francisco. She had no money. She called up her dad, and he said: go visit Howard Gossage. So she lived with the Gossages for a couple of years."
Connections
Marshall's daughter, reportedly his favourite; he steered her to the Gossages in San Francisco and arranged California lectures so he could visit.
Penniless in San Francisco c. 1965, Mary lived with the Gossages for two years on her father's advice.
Mary met Greenberg in California; he became her partner and later went to Toronto to collaborate with Marshall on a planned PBS series.