The weekly seminars McLuhan held in Toronto through the 1960s and 1970s, where the guest of honor did the talking and McLuhan listened. Bob attended more of them than almost anyone and treats them as the setting for McLuhan's offhand, revealing remarks. New to it — start with dialogue 10 for the "jest of honor."
Across the dialogues
Enters through a remark dropped there — McLuhan calling Nietzsche an early student of effects
Bob recalls a seminar aside — McLuhan naming Nietzsche a student of effects, almost an early media ecologist.
"Nietzsche studied effects"
Characterized by McLuhan's manner — the "jest of honor," quiet and attentive, learning from the guest
Bob catches McLuhan's manner at his own seminars — the "jest of honor" rather than guest, quiet and attentive, learning from whoever the guest was.
"the jest of honor"
Promoted from setting to source — the room's leftover talk supplies an answer the dialogue has spent an hour circling, and the seminars become evidence rather than backdrop
The page's premise at full strength — the seminar's most load-bearing line is spoken after it ends, to nobody in particular, and survives only because Bob was still in the room. What the setting produces is not teaching but overheard asides.
"I heard him say, well, that's the problem. Every time there's a full moon, it all falls apart."
Connections
McLuhan's weekly Toronto seminars, where the guest did the talking and McLuhan listened.
Bob attended more of the seminars than almost anyone and treats them as his archive of McLuhan's offhand remarks.