Criticism, I. A. Richards and F. R. Leavis), Professor McLuhan subsequently adopted the view that the only way to approach a work of literature was to examine it in terms of the way it works its magic or achieves its effects (rather than focusing exclusively on its major themes, representative motifs, or the biography of its creator). Hence, when it comes to media, messages, culture, and technology, McLuhan sings the body electronic to underscore his number-one obsession, that is, that breakdown inevitably leads to breakthrough which always yields to greater understanding and the fine art of meaningful communication. Another of McLuhan's celebrated percepts brings this notion into relief. It was sparked, oddly enough, by a passing comment from a European acquaintance. In America, it was observed, a person goes out "for a drive" for privacy because the home ? largely under the influence of media ? has become a public space. The automobile promises and provides refuge, serving as a temporary wrap-around haven for the harrassed and harried, in perhaps one of the few remaining enclosed spaces where a human being still retains some sense of integration, autonomy, and control. In the 1960s, when the relatively new medium of television was radical, instant, and global, McLuhan was frequently mentioned on Martin and Rowan's hip comedy programme, Laugh-In . At the same time, the metaphysician of media was informing GE, Bell Telephone, and IBM they were not in the business of light bulbs, telephones, and business machines; rather, they were in