This Post has been updated/corrected.
Just how far did American Apparel's Dov Charney worm his way inside NYT Mag writer Jaime Wolf's head during their time together?We ask because there is a rather Freudian typo in Wolf's lengthy feature on the schmatte/sexual liberation/anti-sweatshop entrepreneur. The story's lead paragraph mentions two books found in Charney's office. One is "The Concise 48 Laws of Power" and the other, according to the Times Mag piece, is "The Medium Is the Massage." Freud and McLuhan, together at last. The error title has been fixed changed in the online version of the article, though no correction has been added to the story. We wonder: was it Wolf's goof, or did an editor give McLuhan's book the happy ending? The error rubbed us the wrong way, and the lingering question tugs at us. Only a correction could finish us off. (Apologies.)
UPDATE: A few readers and Jamie Wolf have correctly pointed out that the book by McLuhan was indeed titled "The Medium Is The Massage." Just check Amazon, for example. So: this is not a typo. Though someone on the Times website seems to think it is; or perhaps the Times online style book calls for the more accepted title? Rather, this is a continuation of a typo. The "massage" title was itself a mistake. Below is a response that McLuhan's son sent to a person who inquired about the title:
“Actually, the title was a mistake. When the book came back from the typesetter, it had on the cover "Massage" as it still does. The title should have read "The Medium is the Message" but the typesetter had made an error. When Marshall McLuhan saw the typo he exclaimed, "Leave it alone! It's great, and right on target!" Now there are four possible readings for the last word of the title, all of them accurate: "Message" and "Mess Age," "Massage" and "Mass Age"."
So, apologies to Wolf for taking this too far. And thanks to everyone who showed us the error of our ways. We'll of course note this in our corrections post this Friday.
An scan of the page is below. Click for larger view.
