Walter J. Ong
Academic / Scholar
American · 20th century
American Jesuit priest and scholar of cultural and literary studies, author of the classic work Orality and Literacy examining the differences between oral and literate cultures.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Uncle Jerry cites Ong's work on orality to explain the oral qualities (repetition, redundancy, non-complete sentences) present in the longer 10-minute version of All Too Well, arguing these oral elements contribute to the emotional power that was lost in the sanitized shorter version.
Notable Works
- Orality and Literacy