Marshall McLuhan's younger brother — by Cameron's description "a great wordsmith," sometimes talking instead of understanding. He co-edited Who Was Marshall McLuhan? with Barry Nevitt, dedicating it to Finnegans Wake's Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker — "Here Comes Everybody" — and is remembered for a deadpan introduction of his famous brother.
Across the dialogues
Who Was Marshall McLuhan? — the book dedicated to HCE, "Here Comes Everybody"
Maurice co-edited Who Was Marshall McLuhan? with Nevitt, dedicating it to Finnegans Wake's HCE — Marshall as "Here Comes Everybody."
"when Barry Nevitt and Maurice McLuhan, Marshall's brother, did that book, Who Was Marshall McLuhan or Who Is Marshall McLuhan?"
The "only child" Irish bull — a wordsmith's joke at his famous brother's expense
At a 1970s panel Maurice introduced his brother as "an only child" — what Cameron calls an Irish bull, a wordsmith's joke that left Edgar Friedenberg shocked.
"He said that Marshall was an only child."
The fuller portrait — a United Church minister who joined Marshall at the Coach House, "always aware of playing second fiddle," and the identity crisis Marshall "had in mind"
The Coach House years and their limit — divorced, Maurice worked beside Marshall (~1969–70) but left by 1971, unable to make a self in the shadow of his famous brother.
"you just can't be under the shade of a giant oak tree all the time."
Cameron's portrait of the lesser brother — a United Church minister sized up early and never out of Marshall's shadow, met with condescension ("have you read Maritain?") and their mother's plea to "go easy on Maurice."
"but he was always aware of playing second fiddle from the time he was very, very young."
Bob reads Marshall's talk of a 1960s "identity crisis" as aimed partly at Maurice, who "came to feel that it wasn't a sincere life."
"He knew his brother was."
Connections
Marshall's younger brother — "a great wordsmith" who once introduced Marshall, deadpan, as "an only child."
Co-edited Who Was Marshall McLuhan? with Barry Nevitt, dedicating it to Finnegans Wake's HCE.