 Ultimately , the book 's utility as textual scholarship is limited by Havelock 's methods . His account of orality is based almost entirely on Homer , but the history of the Homeric text is not known , which forces Havelock to make claims based on assumptions that cannot fully be tested . Later classicists argue that the poetic nature of Homer 's language works against the very arguments Havelock makes about the intellectual nature of oral poetry . What he asserts as a definitive use of language can never be conclusively demonstrated not to be an accident of " metrical convenience . " <unk> , like Platonists , found the book to be less than useful for the precise work of their own discipline ; many classicists rejected outright Havelock 's essential thesis that oral culture predominated through the 5th century . At the same time , though , Havelock 's influence , particularly in literary theory , was growing enormously . He is the most cited writer in Walter J. Ong 's influential <unk> and Literacy other than Ong himself . His work has been cited in studies of orality and literacy in African culture and the implications of modern literacy theory for library science . Preface to Plato has remained continuously in print since its initial publication . 
