Revolution of the Ear?

Abstract

How do acoustic dealings with machines change people’s conception of themselves? This essay presents the context of the media shift from image to sound using as an example the poetic theory of Charles Olson and relates this theory to the use of the typewriter as a tool. This is in contradistinction to understanding the typewriter as a cognitive form. Both usages of the typewriter can potentially form elements of a theory of variantology. As a perspective, I propose a concept of the subject that follows the way the ear functions.