Shows
The American VandalSpitesgiving in Flyover CountryAnalysis of the Gilded Age tropology of alienation precedes discussions of Hubert Humphrey & Tim Walz [9:00], the reception of "Hillbilly Elegy" and its aftermath [38:00], and "The Mismeasurement of Orcs" [78:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Andie Tucher, Samuel Freedman, Douglas Dowland, Dan Sinykin, J.D. Connor, Robert Tally
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheAmericanVandal/Spitesgiving, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com2025-07-181h 34The American VandalLiterary Sociology a.k.a. The Institutional Turn a.k.a The Spreadsheet School of Literary CriticismA so-called Spreadsheet Man responds. Does the institutional turn have a distinctly feminine ethos? [27:30] How is it rooted in the Post45 Collective? [49:00] What are its debts to New Historicism and Marxist Literary Criticism? [69:00] And to Fredric Jameson? [84:30] And what has become of Economic Criticism? [94:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Dan Sinykin, Matt Seybold, Brandon Taylor, Rachel Sagner Buurma, Laura Heffernan, J. D. Connor, Alexander Manshel, Fredric Jameson, Leigh Claire La Berge
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheAmericanVandal/SpreadsheetMen, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter...2025-07-011h 43The American VandalThe Mutational Romances of Silicon Valley SpeculationOur ideology critique of contemporary tech fascist SciFi begins with the first selections from Fredric Jameson's 1977 seminar at the Institute On Culture & Society, followed by a journalists narration of the tech fascist turn in Silicon Valley [10:00], ideological analysis of Alt-Right speculative fiction [37:00], and technofeudal yearning to convert probability to prophecy [70:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Fredric Jameson, Matt Seybold, Jacob Silverman, Jordan S. Carroll
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Mutants, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com2025-06-091h 42The American VandalVandal Live: Affordances of Enclosure & The Ends of EmpiresOur inaugural installment of "live" podcasting was recorded with a small audience in the library at Quarry Farm. It features Caroline Levine and Jed Esty discussing their recent books, "The Activist Humanist" and "The Future of Decline," as well as responding to the themes of "A Tale of Today" and "Criticism LTD," and discussing the roles of humanities educators in addressing climate crisis, declinism, superpower nostalgia, and shock doctrine.
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Caroline Levine, Jed Esty
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Affordances, or subscribe to...2025-05-161h 00The American VandalSolidarity & SpeculationThe finale of our trilogy centered on Technofeudalism begins with the intersection of political economy with aesthetics and literary forms, followed by a synthesis of financial and fictive definitions of speculation [18:00], what can be done with the technofeudal thesis [27:30], the role of solidarity in the age of insecurity [33:00], the Panic of 1873 as a model [41:30], panics to come [53:00], and some final words from Yanis Varoufakis [72:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Yanis Varoufakis, Jordan S. Carroll, James Livingston, Astra Taylor, Leigh Claire La Berge
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete...2025-05-141h 17The American VandalFrom Technostructure To TechnofeudalismAn exploration of the political economy of technofeudalism begins by defining the technostructure and introducing its personification, followed by testimony from a skeptic [26:00], competing periodizations of the present [48:00], and media praxis under the rein of the cloudalists [73:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Yanis Varoufakis, James Livingston, Astra Taylor
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Technofeudalism, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com2025-05-051h 34
American Campus PodcastHigher ed's second Gilded Age with Matt SeyboldMatt Seybold takes us back to Knobs University, a fictional HBCU imagined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their 1873 novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Drawing parallels from the novel and its HBCU, Matt helps us see how we're living through our own second Gilded Age, a post-capitalist era of technofeudalism.References mentioned this episode:The American Vandal PodcastThe American Vandal SubstackMattSeybold.comMark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. 1873. The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.Ron Chernow. 2025. Mark Twain. Penguin Random House. Willy Theyer. 2024. The Non-Modern Crisis of the Modern University. Translated by...2025-04-1629 min
Conceptually SpeakingDr. Matt Seybold Talks Public Humanities & PodcastingIn this episode of Conceptually Speaking, I sit down with Dr. Matt Seybold, host of the American Vandal podcast and scholar at the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College. Our conversation traverses the changing landscape of literary studies as it moves beyond traditional academic boundaries into digital spaces, revealing both new opportunities and persistent challenges in how we create and share knowledge. Dr. Seybold shares the origin story of American Vandal—born as a pandemic response when in-person programming was suspended—and how it evolved into a platform that builds relationships with scholars and reaches an unexpectedly glob...2025-04-101h 01The American VandalNewspapers Worse Than Dead (But Print Is A Rent Strike)Episode opens with journalism's "race to the bottom," described by a journalist who lived it, followed by what "The Facebook Files" revealed about social media's relationship to news [8:00], the tactics of parallel journalism [27:00}, the difference between fake news and fake journalism [38:00], the fate worse than death for periodicals, but not books [48:00], what the acquisition of Twitter taught us about technofeudalism [65:00], and a call to return to institutional media [82:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Samuel Freedman, Matt Seybold, Jeff Horwitz, Gil Duran, Andie Tucher, Jeff Jarvis, Yanis Varoufakis, Tressie McMillan Cottom
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
For more about this episode, including a...2025-04-041h 28The American VandalThe Facebook Files & The Gutenberg ParenthesisA two-part meditation on the history of journalism and the fate of investigative journalism under tech fascism begins with the model of Ida Tarbell, the epochal Wall Street Journal reporting on Facebook in 2021 [6:00], the professionalization of journalism during the Gilded Age and interbellum periods [38:00], the relationship between Silicon Valley and news organizations in the 21st century [54:00], the legacy of newspapers [63:00], and a periodization of print media [71:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Gil Duran, Matt Seybold, Jeff Horwitz, Andie Tucher, Jacob Silverman, Jeff Jarvis
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography...2025-04-011h 34The American VandalThe Gilded NetworkOur 150th anniversary celebration of Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today" turns to political economies of mass media, then and now, beginning with a close reading of the novel's title. We are then introduced to the tech fascist fantasy of the Network State [21:00], theories of post-capitalism [47:00], ways of reading from the right [58:00], and a more optimistic technofuturism [77:00}
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Gil Duran, Eleanor Courtemanche, Jordan Carroll, Douglas Dowland, Jeff Jarvis
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a...2025-03-201h 36The American VandalA Journey of CuriosityThe second act of "A Tale of Today," focused on HBCUs and the political economy of education in Gilded Ages old and new, concludes with a journey of curiosity through the unschooling movement, a historicist close reading of Ruth Bolton's time at Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania [24:40], analysis of the transition from secondary schools to higher education [35:00], a summary of this part of the series [82:00], and hope from the forgotten migration [87:30].
Cast (in order of appearance): Astra Taylor, Matt Seybold, Laura Heffernan, Rachel Sagnar Buurma, Alexander Manshel, Annie Abrams, Crystal Sanders
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For...2025-01-301h 36The American VandalThe First Curriculum Is Work Without WagesFollowing Jelani Favors's description of how the second curriculum of HBCUs has been compromised since the 1980s, we look back at the origins of Howard University in the Freedman's Bureau [10:00], discuss the labor history of literature instruction [28:00], and mark the college football playoffs by discussing the dehumanization of athletic workers with the authors of "The End of College Football" [44:30].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Jelani Favors, Laura Heffernan, Rachel Sagnar Buurma, Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Derek Silva
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/StudentWorkers, or...2024-12-311h 26The American VandalFake Work, Fucking Models, & The Archive of EmpireArchives, physical and digital, are suffering from austerity, enshittification, and censorship. In this episode scholars discuss the ambivalent impacts of digitization, what information matters in the data economy [8:30], an analogy involving European colonialism [23:00], the competition to document between corporations and universities [46:00], the duty to tell the truth freely [73:30], preserving the counternarratives to empire [81:00], and managing an archive through Orbanization [95:30].
Cast (in order of appearance): Laura Heffernan, Rachel Sagnar Buurma, Matt Seybold, Kelly Grotke, Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Leigh Claire La Berge, Crystal Sanders, Jared Loggins, Andrew Douglas, Timothy Barber
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this...2024-12-232h 00The American VandalHalf Castle 'Gainst The Scott Walkers"A Tale Of Today" returns with an episode inspired by "The Teaching Archive." Its authors discuss the pedagogical innovations of HBCUs and strategies for teaching literary history, followed by the legacy of New Historicism in the classroom [14:00], the model of the Monks of Lindisfarne [24:00], the historical rivalry between professors and journalists [36:30], the archives of HBCU student newspapers [43:00], and a reporter who spent decades on the education beat [64:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Laura Heffernan, Rachel Buurma, Matt Seybold, Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Eleanor Courtemanche, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Jelani Favors, Samuel Freedman
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For...2024-12-181h 30The American VandalThe Education Gospel, Enshittify.edu, & The Expansion of Lower EdAn episode built around an interview with Tressie McMillan Cottom covers what lessons the rest of Higher Ed can learn from HBCUs [3:00], the vectors of financialization in the New Gilded Age [19:00], the migration of the for-profit model into not-for-profit institutions [60:00], and how Modern Monetary Theory might invigorate the Black University Concept [84:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Jared Loggins, Matt Seybold, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Kelly Grotke, Andrew Douglas
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/LoweEd, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com2024-11-251h 34The American VandalPhilanthrocapitalism UA Morehouse college commencement speaker makes an extraordinary financial commitment, but there's a "profound story" to tell about the durable funding of HBCUs in the US since the Gilded Age [12:00]. How does philanthrocapitalism work? [42:00] What is the Double Tax? [48:00] How might EdTech extract "intellectual capital" from HBCUs? [54:00] Can the second curriculum be sustained inside a philanthrocapitalist university? [64:00] Are HBCUs the vanguard of a new era of disruption to education? [74:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Andrew Douglas, Jared Loggins, Kelly Grotke, Crystal Sanders, Jelani Favors, Dominique Baker
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this...2024-11-121h 33The American VandalThe Black University Concept & The Second CurriculumA brief history of HBCUs through conversations with five scholars about the second curriculum which informs movements for Civil Rights in the midcentury US, segregation scholars and the long withholding of postbaccalaureate education from HBCUs [40:00], the aspirational Black University Concept in W.E.B. DuBois and Vincent Harding [75:00], and the challenges facing HBCU students today [84:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Jelani Favors, Crystal Sanders, Andrew Douglas, Jared Loggins, Dominique Baker
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/HBCU, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter...2024-10-311h 50The American VandalBONUS EPISODE: "First at Farce: Structures of Feeling in The Gilded Age" by Nathan Wolff (2024 Quarry Farm Symposium Keynote)As Nathan Wolff himself puts it, his recent keynote address at the 2024 Quarry Farm Fall Symposium is "very much in dialogue with The American Vandal." In this talk, Wolff not only summarizes Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's "The Gilded Age" (1873), but further interpolates it with concepts like Lauren Berlant's cruel optimism, György Lukács's historical novel, and Raymond Williams's structures of feeling, all of which have been cited frequently in our "A Tale of Today" series. While this episode departs from the usual format of this podcast, listeners to the current season will undoubtedly see the synergy between re...2024-10-1845 minThe American VandalThe Historical NovelOrganized around a comparison of György Lukács's "The Historical Novel" and Mark Twain & Charles Dudley Warner's "The Gilded Age," in this episode we take a detour from Jameson to Lukács, question what realism means [8:30], whether "The Gilded Age" is a historical novel [19:30], whether historical novels are intrinsically conservative [33:30}, whether novelists can live up to Lukács's high expecations [41:00], what distinguishes historical novels from historical fictions [64:30], and who are the "spreasheet men" [85:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Brandon Taylor, Matt Seybold, Eleanor Courtemanche, Nathan Wolff, Anna Kornbluh, Jeffrey Insko, Alexander Manshel
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audi...2024-10-141h 43The American VandalAlways Historicize?From Fredric Jameson on why "the most important goal is history itself" follows a series of conversations about dialectical criticism vs. new historicism [5:00], the wisdom of "always historicizing" [17:30], the anxiety of influence between new historicism and literary fiction [34:00] as well as between literary fiction and history [53:00], hinge points and shadow presentisms [59:00], and the layers of discourse about history in 2024 [88:30].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Eleanor Courtemanche, Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Robert Tally, Alexander Manshel, Walter Johnson
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/AlwaysHistoricize...2024-10-011h 38The American VandalStrategic Presentism & Resistance HistoryWhat's the difference? The episode opens with defenses of presentism by two literary critics and a reception history of "The Gilded Age" [6:30] before turning to a critique of resistance history from within the discipline [12:30], a response from a prominent historian [44:30], a consideration of the standpoint of resistance history [67:30], and why aren't there more literary critics on MSNBC? [75:30]
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Walter Johnson, Astra Taylor
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ResistanceHistory, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal...2024-09-231h 26The American VandalFredric Jameson R.I.PEarlier this Summer, Matt Seybold asked Anna Kornbluh what Fredric Jameson meant to literary criticism. On the occasion of his passing, we'd like to share her answer.2024-09-2201 minThe American VandalCruel Optimism & The Enclosure of the CommonsA new episode of "A Tale of Today" begins with an explanation of the forest charter and the enclosure of the commons through a revisionist version of a familiar story. The enclosure of the commons is then traced into The Gilded Age [8:00], before two scholars of the novel discuss its affective registers, as well as Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's fraught attempts to periodize and historicize its contemporary political moment [21:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Astra Taylor, Matt Seybold, Nathan Wolff
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please...2024-09-121h 05The American VandalThe Age of InsecurityA new season inspired by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's 150-year-old novel, "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today," launches with an introduction to Colonel Sellers; a discussion of Astra Taylor's "The Age of Insecurity" (2023) [10:00]; questions about the discipline of history in the contemporary moment [28:00]; and Walter Johnson reflecting on resistance and his 20-year-old essay "On Agency" [41:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Astra Taylor, Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Walter Johnson
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/AgeOfInsecurity, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter...2024-09-091h 18The American VandalCriticism LTD: Continuing The Dialogue (A Project Narrative Event)Recorded at The Ohio State University, as part of the Project Narrative series, Matt Seybold reflects on the making of "Criticism LTD" [3:15], as well as ongoing Ponzi austerity, reassessment of close reading, and AI speculative euphoria since its conclusion [14:30]. James Phelan (Director of Project Narrative) argues for narrative theory's contributions to literary studies as a discipline [35:30] and they take questions from the audience [47:50].
Theme Song: "A Little Bit Strange To Begin With" by Redd Holt & The Heptet
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, James Phelan, Amanpal Garcha, Sandra Macpherson, Brian McHale, Christine Tulley
For a bibliography of this episode...2024-02-261h 26The American VandalClose Reading Feudalism(s) in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with James Phelan (A Project Narrative Crossover Episode)From the production studios of Ohio State University, American Vandal host, Matt Seybold, and James Phelan, the Director of Project Narrative, read aloud Chapter 18 of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain [3:40], then discuss it [30:00] with emphases on the opportunities the chapter presents for types of close reading.
This episode is a crossover with the Project Narrative podcast, which you can learn more about at ProjectNarrative.osu.edu.
For our episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ProjectNarrative or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.Substack.com2024-02-231h 16
Project NarrativeEpisode 28: Jim Phelan & Matt Seybold — Chapter XVIII of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry FinnIn this special crossover episode of the Project Narrative Podcast, Jim Phelan and Matt Seybold, executive producer and host of The American Vandal Podcast, discuss chapter eighteen of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Matt Seybold is Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, as well as Resident Scholar at the Center For… Continue reading Episode 28: Jim Phelan & Matt Seybold — Chapter XVIII of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn2024-02-231h 20The American Vandal2024 with Anna Kornbluh & J.D. ConnorThe finale episode of our miniseries on corporate allegory was recorded the day after the publication of Anna Kornbluh's "Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism" by Verso. With numerous allusions to the book, Matt Seybold asks Kornbluh and "City of Industry" blogger J. D. Connor to consider the potential "perfect storm" of media disruption in 2024. Among the topics they cover are the enshittification of social, search, & and streaming, the investor-led rush to profitability justifiying downsizing across media sectors, the speculative euphoria associated with AI-generated art, and the eroding boundaries between media forms.
Theme Song: "This Year" by The...2024-02-051h 23The American VandaliLiberalism, The Morning Show, & The Sheeny Blandness of AppleTV+ with Anna Shechtman & Michael SzalayOur series on corporate allegory continues with an extended discussion of Apple TV+, both its film and television offerings, as well as the relationship between such "content" and the corporation's primary business: selling iPhones and other hardware. Among the specific works discussed are "Severance," "Killers Of The Flower Moon," "Lessons In Chemistry," "Fingernails," "Gutsy," "The Foundation," "Silo," "Ted Lasso," "The Last Thing He Told Me," and, most extensively, "The Morning Show."
Theme Song: "This Year" by The Steel Wheels
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/AppleTV or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.Substack.com2024-01-221h 12
Money on the LeftCriticism LTD w/ Matt SeyboldMatt Seybold joins Rob Hawkes and Scott Ferguson to discuss the political economy of literary criticism from past to present, amateur to professional. Seybold is Associate Professor of American Literature at Elmira College and Resident Scholar at the Center for Mark Twain Studies. In addition to writing and teaching in the field of literature & economics, Seybold produces and hosts The American Vandal podcast, an ever-growing collection of conversations and presentations about literature, humor, and history in America that is inspired by Mark Twain's life and legacy. Our conservation focuses, in particular, on The American Vandal’s magisterial eig...2024-01-011h 46The American VandalClose Reading, Conglomerate Authorship, & Qween Danielle Steel with Dan Sinykin & Johanna WinantIn an episode which operates as both coda to "Criticism LTD" and herald of 2024, Matt Seybold is joined by two scholars working on the complex history and sometimes conflicting methods of close reading. They also discuss the reception of Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed The Publishing Industry (Columbia UP, 2023) [31:00] and a bevy of novels by Danielle Steel, including The Promise (1978), Happiness (2023), and Worthy Opponents (2023) [39:00].
Theme Song: "This Year" by The Steel Wheels
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Steel or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.Substack.com2024-01-011h 33The American VandalThe Empire of Criticism (Finale)"Criticism LTD" concludes its lengthy examination of the unanswerable questions about the state of literary studies with a lengthy consideration of "The Future of Decline" [8:00], the delusion of progress [16:00], the British model of declinist politics [22:00] and literary criticism [29:00], an insider's account of the long tail of "The Chicago Fight" [45:00], the libertarian rejoinder [54:00], and the curriculum of cruelty [61:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Kim Adams, Saronik Bosu, Matt Seybold, Jed Esty, Bruce Robbins, Beci Carver, Gerald Graff, Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/EmpireOfCriticism, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where...2023-11-211h 23The American VandalThe Empire of Criticism (Part Two)In the second part of the finale of "Criticism LTD," we hear about the origins of Jacque Derrida's "Limited Inc." from its editor, the fraught alliance between criticism and history [17:00], the Center For The Literary Arts at Washington University in St. Louis [33.00], the transition from creative writer to working critic [62:00], and critical vocationalism [72:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Gerald Graff, Matt Seybold, Jed Esty, Ignacio Infante, Danielle Dutton, Ryan Ruby
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/EmpireOfCriticism, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive episode transcripts.2023-11-201h 24The American VandalThe Empire of Criticism (Part One)The tripartite finale of "Criticism LTD" begins with a the feud between Matthew Arnold and Mark Twain, followed by "Bed Glee" [14:00], "Outing Criticism" [40:00], and "The Fate of Professional Reading" [59:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Beci Carver, Kim Adams, Ryan Ruby, Ainehi Edoro, Jed Esty, Matt Seybold, Gerald Graff, Harry Stecopoulos
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/EmpireOfCriticism, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive episode transcripts.2023-11-171h 30The American VandalEd Tech, AI, & The Unbundling of Research & TeachingA sometimes uncanny Halloween week exploration of the EdTech griftopia. Who's monetizing our data? How is EdTech being used to bust unions [8:00]? How does EdTech reveal the interdependence of teaching and research, and the horror of their unbundling [36:00]? How does being a union member effect literary studies research [61:00]? Is AI the end of literary criticism [81:00]?
Cast (in order of appearance): Annie McClanahan, Sarah Brouillette, Matt Seybold, Bryan Alexander, Brian Deyo, Louise McCune, Max Chapnick, Lawrence Lorraine Mullen, Francesca Colonese, Ted Underwood
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Unbundling, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal...2023-11-022h 04The American VandalPodcasting CriticismAn appropriately rangy discussion of the podcast medium and its debts to existing print and audio forms. The origin story of The American Vandal Podcast is followed by comparison with several other podcasts, including Revisionist History [11:30], Remarkable Receptions [30:00], and High Theory [68:00], interspersed with analysis of podcast editing as criticism [50:00], the conservative traditions of orality and radio [60:00], and how podcasting might by made to "count" for disciplinary professionalization [90:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Sheri-Marie Harrison, Matt Seybold, Joe Locke, Kim Adams, Saronik Bosu, Howard Rambsy II
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/PodcastingCriticism, or subscribe to...2023-10-272h 04
C-SPAN BookshelfBTSA: The Life of Mark Twain w/ Professor Matt SeyboldOur guest this week is Elmira College Professor Matt Seybold, who shares insights and introspections into the life of Mark Twain. Named among the great American novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been known internationally since its first printing in 1884 and remains popular yet controversial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2023-10-2035 minThe American VandalCriticism in The Conglomerate EraAs mass-market literature has been consolidated into a small handful of publishing conglomerates, the critical work once done by publicity and editorial departments has been offloaded. In this episode we discuss the rise of literary agents and their function as critics [8:00] and the role of literary awards in canon formation and other processes of homogenization [28:00]. Finally, we ask, can criticism be a countervailing force against conglomeration? [60:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Dan Sinykin, Matt Seybold, Laura McGrath, Sheri-Marie Harrison, Ainehi Edoro, Howard Rambsy
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/conglomerate, or subscribe to our newsletter...2023-10-171h 21The American VandalBookTube, BookTok, Wattpad, & The Audible Creation ExchangeWhat is literary knowledge? And, for that matter, what is literature? A survey of new literary media takes on audiobooks [5:00], BookTube and BookTok [26:00], and Wattpad [75:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Christopher Newfield, Matt Seybold, Laura McGrath, Mark McGurl, Sarah Brouillette
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/parabooks, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive episode transcripts.2023-10-121h 41The American VandalBrittle Paper & The BlogossanceWhat is the relationship between literary criticism and media studies? How has criticism adapted to the digital revolution? These questions are considered by examining the origins of the blogosphere [5:00], its recent reemergence [17:00], the specific case of "Brittle Paper" [29:00], and strategies of adaptation within the profession [46:00]. The episode then turns to two examinations of multimedia parasitical criticism: Jacque Derrida's "Limited Inc." [60:00] and Ryan Ruby's "Context Collapse" [71:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Ainehi Edoro, Matt Seybold, Howard Rambsy, Sheri-Marie Harrison, John Guillory, Ryan Ruby
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Parasite, or subscribe to our newsletter at...2023-10-021h 33The American VandalPolitics & The ParacademyAn attempt to triangulate politicization, professionalization, and publication by examining several periods in the history of criticism. The episode begins with Joe Locke describing an overt turn towards social justice in his music following police murder of George Floyd, followed by a discussion of the misperception of "Professing Criticism" as a call to depoliticize [7:00]. An epilogue to "The Chicago Fight" [17:00] and humanist criticism [24:00]. Discussion of the implicit politics of the paracademy [51:00], its emergence in response to conglomeration [56:00], and the reemergence of patronage [68:00] precede profile of Las Vegas Review of Books [81:00] and epilogue at University of Puerto Rico [100:30].
Cast (in order...2023-09-231h 56The American VandalThe Chicago Fight & Economics ImperialismThe Chicago Critics won the Chicago Fight of the 1930s, but they lost the Chicago Cold War. Chicago Economics got its start dismantling the Chicago Plan. This episode covers the brief victory of the Neo-Aristotelians, the long tail of Economics Imperialism [18:30], the rivalry between economics and literary criticism [39:00], the Chicago Economists' parody of "Treasure Island" [55:00], the implicit alliance between Chicago Economics and the New Critics [60:00], and Robert Hutchins's dream of "The University of Utopia" [72:00]
Cast (in order of appearance): Edward Nik-Khah, Matt Seybold, Studs Terkel, Robert Hutchins, Anna-Dorothea Schneider, Christopher Newfield, Anna Kornbluh
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography...2023-09-111h 17The American VandalThe Chicago Fight & "Criticism Inc."A deep dive into the Chicago Critics who inspired John Crowe Ransom's 1937 essay, "Criticism Inc.," as well as their working conditions at the University of Chicago under Robert Maynard Hutchins. His implementation of "The Chicago Plan" and the resulting "Chicago Fight" [9:00], the afterlives of the Chicago Critics in contemporary literary studies [30:00], the import of the Walgreen Hearings [49:00], and the seeding of the Chicago School of Economics.
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, Bruce Robbins, Anna-Dorothea Schneider, John Guillory, Harold Langer, Edward Nik-Khah, Robert Maynard Hutchins
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ChicagoFight, or subscribe...2023-09-051h 13The American VandalThe Racist Interpretation ComplexWhat is the political economy of New Criticism? Are the racist and reactionary Cold War politics of the New Critics immanent to their trademark method: close reading? The episode begins with the story of Langston Hughes testifying before the the House Un-American Activities Committee on what goes into the interpretation of a poem. What constitutes "tactical criticism" [9:00]? Critics try to rescue close reading from the "bad politics" at its origins [38:00], endorse supplementary methods [59:00], and describe how New Criticism looks from outside the U.S. and U.K. [1:07.30].
Cast (in order of appearance): Langston Hughes, Andy Hines, Matt Seybold, Jed Esty...2023-08-281h 21The American VandalPonzi Austerity & The Monolingual UniversityLast week, West Virginia University announced that it would abolish its World Languages, Literatures, & Linguistics Department, proposing to replace it with automated digital instruction. This is the apotheosis of trends going back decades. In this episode we talk about the effects of monolingual education, the case study in Ponzi Austerity at WVU [5:00], alternative paths for literary studies [11:00], the cosmopolitan cultural abundance that is sometimes overlooked by Anglophone criticism [50:00], and Matt Seybold interviews Joe Locke about "Makram" and jazz education [57:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Matt Seybold, Joe Locke
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode...2023-08-241h 39The American VandalPonzi Austerity in The Age of Cultural AbundanceHow has the systemic defunding and deprofessionalizing of humanities academia impacted literary criticism? Why is there such a flourishing culture industry if demand for cultural education is supposedly declining? We look to megatrends like U.S. hegemony, organizations like the MLA (6:30), analogues like the Eurozone Debt Crisis (19:30), mechanisms of funding and distribution (28:00), and potential futures of disruption and declinism (1:01.30).
Cast (in order of appearance): Jed Esty, Matt Seybold, Anna Kornbluh, Christopher Newfield, Yanis Varoufakis
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/PonziAusterity, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive...2023-08-211h 24The American VandalHungover From The Bad Old Days of High TheoryWhat is criticism? Why should it matter? Can it be saved from the gun-toting businessman? A crossover episode with the High Theory podcast connects internal and external crises (6:00), imagines confrontations with gun-toting businessmen (22:00) and sociopathic administrators (33:00), salutes the vanguard of academic labor (45:00), eulogizes the star system (59:00), demystifies the bad old days of high theory (1.13:00), and recommends "The Shush" (1.24:00).
Cast (in order of appearance): Kim Adams, Matt Seybold, Saronik Bosu, John Guillory, Christopher Newfield, Bruce Robbins, Ryan Ruby, Sarah Brouillette, Katie Kadue, Kyla Wazana Tompkins, and Michelle Chihara
Soundtrack: Joe Locke's "Makram"
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/HighTheory, or...2023-08-141h 27The American VandalThe Golden Age of The Working CriticThe premiere of a new series, "Criticism LTD," on the contemporary state of criticism. This episode covers proclamations of crisis from legacy media earlier this year, demands for a cosmopolitan turn in literary studies (11:15), an alleged golden age of popular criticism (28:00), and the role of para-academic publications like the Los Angeles Review of Books (54:30).
Cast (in order of appearance): Matt Seybold, John Guillory, Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Justin Smith-Ruiu, Ryan Ruby, Michelle Chihara
For episode bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/GoldenAge, or subscribe to our newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.SubStack.com, where you will also receive episode transcripts.2023-08-071h 20The American VandalWorking Conditions with Christopher Newfield & Anna Kornbluh (50th Episode #MLA2023 Special)On the eve of the largest annual gathering of literary scholars, the MLA convention in San Francisco, a discussion of this year's presidential theme, Working Conditions, with the MLA President.
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/WorkingConditions2023-01-0400 min
The American VandalThe Twitter Elegies (& Mastodon Scolds) with Rebecca Colesworthy & Jeff JarvisTwo scholars embedded in publishing discuss the impact of chaos at Twitter and in social media more generally upon journalism and academic presses. Also, some brief discussion of "The Twitter Files" and Mastodon migration.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheTwitterElegies2022-12-191h 19
The American VandalReckless Monetization, Surveillance Kleptocracy, & Olivia Snow's Villain Origin StoryAs the Elon Musk era at Twitter descends ever further into chaos, we discuss the canaries in the coal mine of surveillance, shadowbanning, algorithmic censorship, data firesales, and deplatforming: sex workers.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Bollocks2022-12-0747 min
The American VandalThe Plausible End of Social Media, Downscaling, & The Latent Celebrity Mindset with Ian BogostEarlier this month, The Atlantic published an essay by our guest, Ian Bogost, titled "The Age of Social Media is Ending." Since then there have been layoffs at several social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, and collapsing stock prices throughout the industry. What's happening? And what's next?
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Downscaling2022-11-2358 min
The American VandalThe Collapse of Twitter, Zombie Cyberlibertarianism, & Commercial Content Moderation with Sarah T. RobertsWith the end of Twitter seemingly imminent, content moderation and social media expert, Sarah T. Roberts, discusses Elon Musk's ideology, the labor of social media, and the migration to Mastodon.
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheEndOfTwitter2022-11-1856 min
The American VandalDance of the Cash Dragons with Aaron Bady, Michelle Chihara, & Sarah MesleThe series finale finds "Dear Television" correspondents joining the podcast to discuss the Fall 2022 franchise season, foremost HBO's "House of the Dragon," but also Disney+'s "Andor" and Amazon's "Rings of Power."
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/CashDragons2022-11-041h 19
The American VandalIndustry Cringe & Reproductive Horror with Johanna Isaacson & Madeline Lane-McKinleyA ranging conversation inspired by two forthcoming books about genre, work, and visual culture. The authors consider HBO series like "The Baby," "Barry," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "The Larry Sanders Show."
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Cringe2022-10-251h 08
The American VandalRooting For Everybody Black in the Issa Rae Extended Universe with Jalylah Burrell & Danielle Fuentes MorganInspired by HBO shows "Insecure" and "Rap Sh!t," as well as Yvonne Orji's new stand-up special and recent Emmy wins for Quinta Brunson's "Abbott Elementary" and Jerrod Carmichael's "Rothaniel," Matt Seybold discusses the often precarious role of Black comic creators with two scholars of race, gender, and comedy in the U.S.
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/RootingForEverybodyBlack2022-10-141h 15
The American VandalThe Sopranos Revival (Remember The End of The End of History?) with Peter Coviello & Xine YaoNo single program transformed the HBO brand like "The Sopranos," which became a hit all over again upon the launch of HBOMax in the midst of the 2020 lockdown.
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheSopranosRevival2022-09-291h 17
The American VandalThe Rehearsal, Reality TV, & Warner Bros Discovery with J. D. Connor & Olivia StowellIs Nathan Fielder's "The Rehearsal" a critique of Reality TV? Moreover, might it be read as an attack on HBO's new parent company, Warner Bros Discovery? A conversation about the show, the network, the conglomerate, and the streaming wars.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography of works mentioned, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheRehearsal2022-09-201h 21
The American VandalPuzzles of Collective Intention, Corporate Authorship, Family Business Insurrection, & HBO's Succession with Lisa Siraganian & Michael SzalayOur sixth season - "HBO, From Pulp to Prestige" - kicks off with a discussion of conglomeration, collective intention, and corporate authorship through HBO's original programming and especially "Succession," the Emmy-winning tentpole drama produced by Jesse Armstrong and Adam McKay.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Succession2022-09-131h 16
The American VandalReconsidering Mark Twain Among The Indians with Herman Fillmore & Drew LopenzinaIn the concluding episode of our series on Kerry Driscoll's field-shaping book, Mika Turim-Nygren seeks reception of the work in Native Studies and from Native communities.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ReconsideringTwain2022-08-0852 min
The American VandalTalking Mark Twain Among The Indians with Kerry DriscollThis seminal book in Twain Studies was a decades-long undertaking. Kerry Driscoll explains how she became "an accidental Twain scholar," and discusses with Mika Turim-Nygren the multifold archival discoveries - "good instincts and good luck" - which took Mark Twain Among The Indians from a short paper to a magnum opus.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TalkingTwain2022-08-0153 min
The American VandalReviewing Mark Twain Among The Indians with John Bird, Susan K. Harris, & Ann RyanA new series hosted by Mika Turim-Nygren premieres with a discussion of Kerry Driscoll's 2019 book, "Mark Twain Among The Indians & Other Indigenous Peoples," featuring three established scholars in Twain Studies, all of whom regard in as one of the most important works in the field in the past quarter century.
For more about this episode, including an extensive bibliography of works discussed, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ReviewingTwain2022-07-251h 05
The American VandalMinistry For The Future (Worldwide Climate Teach-In Special Episode) with Sheri-Marie Harrison, Anna Kornbluh, & Min Hyoung SongProduced in observance of and solidarity with the Worldwide Teach-In On Climate & Justice taking place on many campuses today, including Elmira College, we host discussion of a CliFi novel by Kim Stanley Robinson which helps us get "Beyond Climate Despair."
For more about this episode, include a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/MinistryForTheFuture2022-03-301h 15
The American VandalBullshit Jobs, Fuck Work, & The Legacy of David Graeber with James Livingston & Corey McCallIs is possible to imagine a world without work? Or, at least, a world in which work is not romanticized, is not treated as defining element of social and individual achievement? James Livingston has predicted that we need to prepare for a postwork world, and David Graeber has challenged us to imagine alternatives to organization by bureaucracy, credit, and corporations. This episode features Livingston talking to Matt Seybold and Corey McCall about Graeber's posthumous book (The Dawn of Everything), the Great Resignation, QuitToks, Risk Shifts, and much more.
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies...2022-03-1857 min
The American VandalWorking For The New Yorker: Putting The Historicity Back In The French Dispatch with Nora Shaalan & Dan SinykinWes Anderson's acclaimed new movie, The French Dispatch, draws inspiration from the Golden Age of The New Yorker magazine, a period from roughly the early 1940s to the mid 1970s. This episode features two scholars researching that period in the publication's history. They are uniquely situated to consider the selections from the magazine's back catalog which make Anderson's cut, as well as what he chooses to leave out.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/FrenchDispatch2022-03-081h 23
The American VandalDecommodified Labor, Selling Out, & Other Compromises of The Great Resignation with Leigh Claire La Berge & Rachel Greenwald SmithHow do we explain the Great Resignation? Or, for that matter, other mysteries of the contemporary economy, like the high price of culture work and the low wages of culture workers? Two scholars of Post45 literature and culture discuss the work of art and the art of work.
For more about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/GreatResignation2022-02-231h 22
The American VandalBootstrapping Across Dystopia: Autofiction, Autotheory, Autoeverything with Merve Emre & Anna KornbluhA conversation about the personal essay boom, iterations of the memoir in other literary genres, the constructive use of social media, the style of "too late capitalism," and other means of self-indulgence with two decorated literary critics and theorists.
For more about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/AutoEverything2022-02-141h 10
The American VandalAre We All Porn Workers Now?: Gigwork & Radical Flexibility with Heather Berg & Michelle ChiharaA ranging conversation with two scholars - Heather Berg (Porn Work: Sex, Labor, & Late Capitalism) and Michelle Chihara ("Radical Flexibility: Driving for Lyft & The Future of Work in The Platform Economy") - about platform capitalism from the perspective of gigworkers.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Gigwork2022-02-0751 min
The American VandalA Hedge Fund with A Drone Fleet: EdWork in 2022 with Annie McClanahan & Asheesh Kapur Siddique"The World's Work" begins with a discussion of student debt, faculty deskilling, outsourcing, adjunctification, EdTech, and the financialization of U.S. higher education.
Special theme music: "Work Song" by Dan Reeder
For more information, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/EdWork2022-01-311h 07
The American VandalShowtime's Billions & COVID Form with Anna Kornbluh & Devin William DanielsThe season finale of Billions aired exactly 17 months after the season premiere. This was not by design. In this episode, scholars of finance and popular culture discuss the popular Showtime series and how its handling of the pandemic disruption is represented in both content and form.
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Billions2021-10-081h 02
The American VandalAntiracism In The Contemporary University with Amanda Bailey, Tita Chico, & Emily Yoon PerezA discussion of the Antiracism project sponsored by University of Maryland's Center For Literary & Comparative Studies with three faculty members heavily involved in the project, as well as their insights into the Netflix original series, The Chair, which dramatizes a contemporary university English department.2021-09-091h 00
Memory ProtectionSeptember 2001: Seybold and AppleScriptSeptember means Seybold for Apple. Steve and Phil walk us through all of the improvements that are coming to Mac OS with OS X 10.1. We get deep into a discussion about scripting and automation on the Mac, Matt waxes on about Shenmue for one final(?) time, and Josh finds a way to automate Matt out of future episode intros. === QuickTime Machine HP Buys Compaq DoJ Officially Abandons Pursuit Of Breaking Up Microsoft Apple's Retail Operations To Break Even In Q4, Profit In 2002 NY Post Reports That Avie Tevanian Will Be Leaving Apple Apple Reschedules...2021-09-041h 19
The American VandalThe Shush (& The Chair) with Michelle Chihara & Kyla Wazana TompkinsIn her recent PMLA essay, "The Shush," Kyla Wazana Tompkins writes, "The future of the English department cannot be the same as its past." The recent Netflix original series, "The Chair," offers one vision of that past and thus serves to generate conversation about "The Shush," the state of literary studies, and higher education.
To learn more, including an episode bibliography, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheShush2021-09-011h 07
The American VandalA Chair On The Chair with Karen TongsonThe new Netflix original series, The Chair, focus on the first woman of color to Chair the English Department at fictional Pembroke University. Dr. Karen Tongson (University of Southern California) can empathize with this character, played by Sandra Oh, but she is also an exceptional media critic. She talks with Matt Seybold about the reception of The Chair, its representation of literary studies, and where it fits in the history of the U.S. sitcom.
For more about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TheChair2021-08-2844 min
The American VandalThe Invisible Home of Frederick Douglass, John W. Jones, & Mark Twain with Jill Spivey Caddell & Shirley SamuelsOn a special Emancipation Week episode, three scholars with both personal and professional ties to the Southern Tier of New York, discuss the recently-reconstructed speech by Frederick Douglass which was part of the Emancipation Day celebration which took place in Elmira in August of 1880.
For more information about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/InvisibleHome
To read Frederick Douglass's "Lessons of Emancipation To The New Generation" & other Emancipation Week materials, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/LessonsOfEmancipation2021-08-0648 min
The American VandalWhy Trust In Antitrust? with Sanjukta Paul & Marshall SteinbaumWith a series of recent events indicating bipartisan interest in antitrust reform from Congress and the Supreme Court, host Matt Seybold speaks with Law Professor, Sanjukta Paul, and economist, Marshall Steinbaum, about the history of antitrust movements in the United States from Mark Twain's Gilded Age to the New Gilded Age, as well as why they advocate for antitrust as a mechanism for improving worker welfare, reducing inequality, and protecting democracy.
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Antitrust2021-07-011h 08
The American VandalGeneration Z, Mark Twain's Poetry, & Teaching English From East Texas to Harvard with Jocelyn ChadwickThe coordinators of the 2021 Summer Teachers Institute sponsored by the Center For Mark Twain Studies converse about the upcoming event, the state of U.S. education, the resonance of Mark Twain for contemporary students, and much more.
For more about the Institute, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/2021-Summer-Teachers-Institute/2021-06-1856 min
The American VandalTeaching With Tension & The Illusion of Postracialism with Philathia Bolton, Cassander Smith, & Lee BeboutThe co-editors of a new collection on "Race, Resistance, & Reality in The Classroom" discuss the "flash point" of 2008 for American education, the recent Critical Race Theory panic, pedagogical strategies for teaching with tension, and Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'
For more information about this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TeachingWithTension
To Register for the 2021 Summer Teachers Institute, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/2021-Summer-Teachers-Institute2021-06-151h 18
The American VandalMark Twain, Journalism, & the Search for Genus Americanus with Loren Ghiglione, Alyssa Karas, & Dan ThamThe authors of Genus Americanus (2020) join host Matt Seybold to discuss their 2011 road trip. Inspired by Mark Twain, they went looking for American identity through interviews with other journalists, scholars, immigrants, and nomads. What did the find? And how has it shaped their understanding of the decade which followed?
For more information, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/GenusAmericanus2021-05-1958 min
The American VandalExterminate All The Brutes with Sheri-Marie Harrison, Andrew Hoberek, & Ignacio Sanchez PradoThe recent HBO documentary series, directed by Raoul Peck, offers a grand narrative of European colonialism and American imperialism which is broadly sympathetic with the works of Mark Twain from the final decade of his life. In this episode, a diverse group of scholars discuss Peck's film, as well as where it fits in global cinema, the U.S. media ecosystem, and postcolonial scholarship.2021-05-041h 30
The American VandalBONUS EPISODE: Readings for Hal Bush & Hiroko BushA beloved member of the Mark Twain Studies community, author, and St. Louis University Professor, Hal Bush, recently suffered a traumatic brain injury which has put him into a coma. In this episode, friends and fellow scholars read to him from a series of his favorite works, mostly by Mark Twain. To learn more about how you can help, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/HalBush.
Special Thanks to St. Louis University for providing theme music for this episode, a composition by Roberto Murguia and Róisín Malone.2021-04-261h 28
The American VandalThe Suez Canal, #Stuckboat, & The Sinews of War & Trade with Laleh KhaliliFollowing on the heels of the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal last month, Matt Seybold speaks with Dr. Laleh Khalili, whose 2020 book, Sinew of War & Trade: Shipping & Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula, covers the history, present, & potential futures of maritime transport.
For a bibliography of this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/SuezCanal2021-04-0851 min
The American VandalA Music Box, Minstrel Songs, & Mark Twain's Emo Playlist with Erin Bartram & Kerry DriscollThis episode brings together three scholars who have been researching and writing about Mark Twain's musical tastes and the role of music education and performance in the Clemens family household.
For more information about the guests and a bibliography of works discussed during this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/TwainMusic2021-03-311h 00
The American VandalUnsealing the Archive of T.S. Eliot's Love Letters To Emily Hale with Frances Dickey, Megan Quigley, & John Whittier-FergusonVery few embargoed archives are as momentous as Mark Twain's Autobiography, released a century after his death, but the Hale archive, opened last year, is an obvious rival. Emily Hale saved over a thousand letters from the poet and critic, T. S. Eliot, with whom she had a decades-long love affair. In this episode, we talk to three scholars who spent portions of 2020 reading the letters and processing their many surprising revelations.
For more about this episode, including a bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/EmilyHale2021-03-161h 18
The American VandalProject Huckleberry (a.k.a. The Mandalorian) with Emmet Asher-Perrin & Nathaniel WilliamsThe hit Disney+ & Lucasfilm TV series, The Mandalorian, was produced under the working title of "Project Huckleberry." This allusion the Mark Twain's under-appreciated legacy as an innovator in Science Fiction provides the grounds for a ranging conversation about Star Wars, The Mandalorian, and genre fiction with Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com & Nathaniel Williams of UC-Davis.
For more information about this episode, including a bibilography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/ProjectHuckleberry2021-02-2353 min
The American VandalRobinhood, r/WallStreetBets, Who's Yellen Now, & The GameStop-ification of Finance with Anna Kornbluh, Leigh Claire La Berge, & Michelle ChiharaThree scholars of finance and literature join to talk about the ongoing story of the "Reddit Revolution," members of the r/WallStreetBets forum who organized a run on several stocks, notably GameStop, using the retail trading app, Robinhood. How is this speculative mania interconnected with the 2008 financial crisis, the current economic recession, and the new U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen?
For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Robinhood2021-02-111h 05The American VandalThe Myths of Reconstruction in The Wake of Insurrection with Brook ThomasFollowing the storming of the Capitol Building on January 6th, there has been a resurgent interest in the era of Reconstruction following the American Civil War. Senators, journalists, and even scholars have perpetuated long-standing myths about Reconstruction. Brook Thomas explains and debunks some of these myths, while also arguing that an informed reckoning with the unfinished business of Reconstruction can help us understand and address the political volatility of the present day.
For links to some of the works discussed in this episode, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/MythsOfReconstruction2021-01-151h 20The American VandalBONUS EPISODE: Center for Mark Twain Studies 2020 Debrief From Quarry Farm with Joe Lemak & Steve WebbThe staff of the Center for Mark Twain Studies gathers in the library at Quarry Farm to discuss the recently-announced Quarry Farm Fellowships for the coming year, the peculiarities of living and working on the property, and the past and future of CMTS. For more information about applying for Quarry Farm Fellowships, please visit MarkTwainStudies.org.2021-01-1149 minThe American VandalBONUS EPISODE: The Gospel of Revolt: Mark Twain in Elmira with Hal Holbrook & Will HolbrookDid you know that Mark Twain’s father-in-law lobbied for the release of a young woman arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law in 1853? That Twain’s grave lies in a cemetery with numerous conductors and stationmasters on the Underground Railroad? That Twain’s eulogy was given by the first woman ordained in the state of New York? With the help of Oscar-nominated actor, Hal Holbrook, and his grandson, Will Holbrook, Matt Seybold explores the largely forgotten and often surprising political history of the small town where the Center for Mark Twain Studies is located.
This episode was originally produced for the of...2020-12-2347 minThe American VandalDEEP CUTS BOOK CLUB #1: Mark Twain's "Letter From Santa Claus" with Mark Dawidziak, Penne Restad, & Jana TigchelaarThis episode focuses on a letter Mark Twain composed for his three-year-old daughter on Christmas 1875. After actor Mark Dawidziak reads the letter, Matt Seybold hosts a book club style discussion with Penne Restad and Jana Tigchelaar, two scholars who have done extensive research on the development of Christmas traditions in Nineteenth-Century America.
SPOILER WARNING: The discussion (begins around 11:00) includes frank discussions of Santa and therefore may not be appropriate for young children.2020-12-181h 03The American VandalGood Lord Bird & John Brown in Ethan Hawke's America with Jeffrey Insko & Ashley RattnerJames McBride's retelling of John Brown's epochal raid on Harpers Ferry through the eyes of a young black man won the National Book Award in 2013 and was recently adapted into a Showtime miniseries by Ethan Hawke. Two scholars of antebellum abolitionism discuss Good Lord Bird and, more generally, rising popular interest in the events leading up to the American Civil War.2020-12-141h 07The American VandalDave Chappelle & Killjoy Comedy with Jalylah Burrell, Bambi Haggins, & Maggie HennefeldAmerican Humor Studies scholars Jalylah Burrell, Bambi Haggins, and Maggie Hennefeld join host Matt Seybold to discuss the recent work of stand-up comic Dave Chappelle, especially his free half-hour routine, "8:46," released directly to YouTube the month after the murder of George Floyd.2020-12-011h 05
The American VandalMark Twain, James Redpath, & The Vigilante Origins of American PoliceConcluding the 2020 Trouble Begins Lecture Series, Matt Seybold interposes the early careers of Mark Twain and James Redpath, both of whom, in the years surrounding the American Civil War, denounced police forces in Charleston and San Francisco for violently oppressing people of color. What does it mean to be a witness?2020-11-2348 minThe American VandalThe New Black Gothic & Lovecraft Country with Sheri-Marie HarrisonThe Gothic has been, since Mark Twain's time, a popular way for artists to reckon with the life and afterlife of American slavery. But only recently has a Gothic tradition emerged which places black protagonists and black perspectives at its center. The recent HBO series, Lovecraft Country, is exemplary of what Sheri-Marie Harrison has dubbed New Black Gothic. In this episode she talks about the show and the artistic movement it is a part of.
Show Bibliography:
"The New Black Gothic" (LA Review of Books, 2018)
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/new-black-gothic/
"Global Horror: An Introduction" (Post45, 2019)
https://post45.org/2019/04/global-horror-an-introduction/
"I'll...2020-11-1155 min
The American VandalAmerican Humor & Matters of Empire with Judith Yaross LeeComing off the 2020 Quarry Farm Symposium which she organized, Judith Yaross Lee talks with Matt Seybold about her ongoing project, the disciplinary history of American Humor Studies, romantic comedies, Amy Kaplan, and much more.
To view the program for the 2020 Quarry Farm Symposium, which includes Dr. Lee's essay on "American Humor & Matters of Empire," as well as watch all the presentations, visit MarkTwainStudies.com/2020-Quarry-Farm-Symposium/2020-11-0257 minThe American VandalElmira Correctional Facility & The Prison Fix with Andrea MorrellWith the backdrop of a large COVID-19 outbreak within its walls, Andrea Morrell talks to Matt Seybold about Elmira Correctional Facility, one of the oldest continuously-operational prisons in the United States. What does it mean to be a "prison town"? How has the prison system changed during the long history of ECF? What does the current outbreak reveal about its future?
For more about Andrea Morrell's research, visit AndreaMorrellOrg.wordpress.com or check out the associate post at MarkTwainStudies.org2020-10-3051 min
The American VandalMark Twain, The World, & Susan K. HarrisSusan K. Harris, author of "Mark Twain, The World, & Me: Following the Equator, Then & Now," sits down with Matt Seybold to discuss the project that took her to Australia, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, among other places, and found her examining her own life and career, as well as the author whose footsteps she was following in.2020-10-2649 min
The American VandalThe Viral Reprinting of Mark Twain's Hawaii Jokes & Mark Twain Meets DraculaThis episode begins with Todd Nathan Thompson's paper for "The Viral Twain" panel at Virtual C19. Dr. Thompson tracks how Twain's jokes based on his visit to Hawaii were reprinted and often misprinted in the 1870s and 1880s, as Twain was increasingly approached as a pundit on annexation.
The second half of the episode (24:00) contained Mark Dawidziak's Trouble Begins Lecture about the influence of Twain on Bram Stoker.
For more information on joining "The Viral Twain" conversation, including the presentations by Avery Blankenship and Matt Seybold: https://marktwainstudies.com/the-viral-twain-at-virtual-c19-dissent/2020-10-1248 min
The American VandalJames Redpath, Bleeding Kansas, & The Networks of DisunionMark Twain's publicist and booking agent, proprietor of the Boston Lyceum Bureau, started his career as a hardscrabble freelance journalist. He discovered he had a knack for star-making long before he met Mark Twain. Matt Seybold tells the largely forgotten tale of James Redpath becoming John Brown's "right hand man" on the cusp of the Civil War.
This episode is part of "The Viral Twain" panel at Virtual C19. For more information visit MarkTwainStudies.org or C19society.org.2020-10-1245 min