Titivillus’ Bag of Tricks
Media Ontology, Epistemology, and Aesthetics
By (author) Paul Majkut
Paperback (Published)
(April 2025)
ISBN: 9783770569267
6.1 x 9.25 inches
Price: $109.00
In stock
Titivillus’ Bag of Tricks suggests that the birth of a new medium is found inthe misuse of older media. It addresses structural problems in “cusp” periodsof transition from one medium to a more efficient replacement.”Titivillus” is the name medieval scribes gave to a patron devil they claimed caused copying errors. He was their excuse for errors due to exhaustion, poor lighting, boredom, and so on. Majkut proposes thatthrough time and ensuing media innovation, Titivillus enlarged his domain,bedeviling typographers, book binders, filmmakers, radio and televisionbroadcasters, web designers – any who labor in any medium. Heargues that during media historical innovation, technical vocabulary for anew medium does not yet exist. The descriptive vocabulary of an older medium becomes metaphorical, and therefore misleading when applied to the new medium.
Paul Majkut lives in California, teaching courses in philosophy, media, and literature. He has received Fulbright grants to Argentina, Finland, Germany, Mexico, and Estonia, and National Endowment for the Humanities awards at Oxford and Cambridge. He founded The Society for Phenomenology and Media, is widely published in his academic areas, and has written nine novels. Currently, he teaches seminars on radio drama and Shakespeare at the American Braille Institute, and researches visual imagination in literature.
- By (author) Paul Majkut
"A profound endeavour that reveals that media shifts are not merely technological advancements but reconfigurations of humanity's epistemological and ontological framework ... Majkut's exploration into the embodiment of language is exactly what we need. An incisive critique of academia's blind spots." Professor Jun Inutsuka, PhD - Jissen Women's University, Tokyo, Japan "Titivillus' Bag of Tricks is very addictive. I found myself glued to the writer'sinsightful philosophical abstractions mixed in a strange yet beautifulstyle ... Majkut discusses seemingly ordinary everyday media experiencesand communications in a rich, varied, and extraordinary manner." Professor Obiageli Pauline Ohiagu, PhDUniversity of Port Harcourt, Nigeria "An essential text for anyone who wishes to understand what surroundsthe written word and its media ... Majkut reflects on minimal things that lead to bigger consequences in modern media. The richness of the textlies in the various contributions the author makes regarding the written word from the medieval period to the present." Professor Cynthia P. Villagomez Oviedo, PhDUniversidad de Guanajuato, Mexico
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"Paul Majkut's erudite volume is an intellectually rigorous and philosophically far-reaching analysis of the diachronic changes in communication modes across human history. The author's examination of the paradigm shifts in media from ancient times to the present day is substantiated by exhaustive research and a deep understanding of literary and media theory."
Frank P. Tomasulo, PhD – Former Editor, Cinema Journal and Journal of Film and Video
"Titivillus’ Bag of Tricks is very addictive. I found myself glued to the writer’s insightful philosophical abstractions mixed in a strange yet beautiful style ... Majkut discusses seemingly ordinary everyday media experiences and communications in a rich, varied, and extraordinary manner."
Professor Obiageli Pauline Ohiagu, PhD – Chair of Department of Digital and Strategic Communication, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
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