Orality and Literacy 25 Years Later

Abstract

Given the influence of the series and particularly of Orality and Literacy—“Ong’s most widely known book; translated into 11 other languages” (Farrell, n.d.)—this issue of COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS looks back at Orality and Literacy: the book, its reception, and its subsequent use in communication studies. Ong’s work certainly influenced more than communication, but to attempt to review all of that runs well beyond the possibility of a focused review. However, TRENDS will attempt to indicate the scope of the influence of Orality and Literacy with several bibliographies. And so, this issue also includes a (most likely incomplete) citation bibliography as well as—in the spirit of Hawkes’s “informative bibliography”—an abridged classified bibliography of themes introduced in Orality and Literacy