Imagined Nations

He discusses how they have dramatized a series of shifts from the oral clan to the nation of the book (Alistair MacLeod), from print-nationalism to radio-confederacy (Wayne Johnston), and from print-stasis to an electronic space of flows (Michael Ondaatje). Some writers have resisted the threat of filmic images to print-formed communities (Timothy Findley, Guy Vanderhaeghe), while others have sought release from the prison of print (Hubert Aquin), or attempted to infiltrate cyberspace in the border war against globalization (William Gibson). Building on the work of Harold Innis, Williams joins other Canadians such as Marshall McLuhan, Ronald Deibert, and Gerald Friesen in extending and clarifying our understanding of the way differing media environments predispose us to imagine unique forms of political community.