))
When a young Eva Kollisch arrives as a refugee in New York in 1940, she finds a community among socialists who share her values and idealism. She soon discovers ‘the cause’ isn’t as idyllic as it seems. Little does she know this is the beginning of a lifelong commitment to activism and her determination to create radical change in ways that include belonging, love and one's full self. In addition to Eva Kollisch’s memoirs Girl in Movement (2000) and The Ground Under My Feet (2014), LBI’s collections include an oral history interview with Eva conducted in 2014 and the papers of Eva’s mother, poet Margarete Kolllisch, which document Eva’s childhood experience on the Kindertransport. Learn more at www.lbi.org/kollisch . Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute , New York | Berlin and Antica Productions . It’s narrated by Mandy Patinkin. Executive Producers include Katrina Onstad, Stuart Coxe, and Bernie Blum. Senior Producer is Debbie Pacheco. Associate Producers are Hailey Choi and Emily Morantz. Research and translation by Isabella Kempf. Sound design and audio mix by Philip Wilson, with help from Cameron McIver. Theme music by Oliver Wickham. Voice acting by Natalia Bushnik. Special thanks to the Kollisch family for the use of Eva’s two memoirs, “Girl in Movement” and “The Ground Under My Feet”, the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College and their “Voices of Feminism Oral History Project”, and Soundtrack New York.…
An ever-growing collection of conversations about literature, humor, and history in America, produced by the premier source for programming and funding scholarship on Mark Twain's life and legacy.
…
continue reading
A companion podcast to the 10-episode C-SPAN television series, Books that Shaped America, produced in partnership with the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress created the Books That Shaped America list to explore key works of literature from American history that have had a major impact on society. The 10 iconic books featured in the series have provoked thought, won awards, led to significant policy changes, and are still talked about today. In this companion podcast, you can lear ...
…
continue reading
The 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 hi…
…
continue reading
1
The First Curriculum Is Work Without Wages
1:26:52
1:26:52
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:26:52
Following 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 …
…
continue reading
1
Fake Work, Fucking Models, & The Archive of Empire
2:00:16
2:00:16
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
2:00:16
Archives, 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], th…
…
continue reading
1
Half Castle 'Gainst The Scott Walkers
1:30:18
1:30:18
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:30:18
"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 journali…
…
continue reading
1
The Education Gospel, Enshittify.edu, & The Expansion of Lower Ed
1:34:38
1:34:38
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:34:38
An 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 C…
…
continue reading
A 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 th…
…
continue reading
1
The Black University Concept & The Second Curriculum
1:50:35
1:50:35
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:50:35
A 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 …
…
continue reading
1
BONUS EPISODE: "First at Farce: Structures of Feeling in The Gilded Age" by Nathan Wolff (2024 Quarry Farm Symposium Keynote)
45:47
45:47
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
45:47
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'…
…
continue reading
Organized 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}, whet…
…
continue reading
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 p…
…
continue reading
1
Strategic Presentism & Resistance History
1:26:39
1:26:39
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:26:39
What'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…
…
continue reading
Earlier 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.
…
continue reading
1
Cruel Optimism & The Enclosure of the Commons
1:05:45
1:05:45
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:05:45
A 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 War…
…
continue reading
A 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…
…
continue reading
1
Criticism LTD: Continuing The Dialogue (A Project Narrative Event)
1:26:42
1:26:42
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:26:42
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 contrib…
…
continue reading
1
Close Reading Feudalism(s) in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with James Phelan (A Project Narrative Crossover Episode)
1:16:01
1:16:01
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:16:01
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 c…
…
continue reading
1
2024 with Anna Kornbluh & J.D. Connor
1:23:21
1:23:21
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:23:21
The 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 …
…
continue reading
1
iLiberalism, The Morning Show, & The Sheeny Blandness of AppleTV+ with Anna Shechtman & Michael Szalay
1:12:02
1:12:02
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:12:02
Our 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 Chem…
…
continue reading
1
Close Reading, Conglomerate Authorship, & Qween Danielle Steel with Dan Sinykin & Johanna Winant
1:33:16
1:33:16
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:33:16
In 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…
…
continue reading
1
Netflix Necrocapitalism & The House of Usher with Jane Hu & Phillip Maciak
1:20:42
1:20:42
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:20:42
A new season on corporate allegory, business melodrama, and new releases from academic presses kicks off with a discussion of the recent Mike Flanagan adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall Of The House of Usher" for Netflix. For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Usher or TheAmericanVandal.Substack.com…
…
continue reading
"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 Fi…
…
continue reading
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 voc…
…
continue reading
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 Soun…
…
continue reading
1
"The Words of Cesar Chavez" with historian Miriam Pawl
35:53
35:53
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:53
Born in Yuma, Arizona, César Chávez began his working life as a manual laborer. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Chávez moved to California to join an organization that helped laborers register to vote. This week's guest is historian Miriam Pawl. He later began organizing strikes among farm workers, calling for better pay and working conditions. Chá…
…
continue reading
1
"Free to Choose" Milton & Rose Friedman with Prof. Mark Skousen
28:59
28:59
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:59
Milton Friedman was a 1976 Nobel Prize-winning American economist and advisor to President Ronald Reagan and conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others. This week, a conversation with his friend and a Professor at Chapman University, Mark Skousen. In 1980, Friedman partnered with his wife, Rose, to create a 10-part televisi…
…
continue reading
1
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston w/ Prof. Gary Richards
24:15
24:15
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
24:15
Zora Neale Hurston brings to life a Southern love story that explores race, gender roles, and identity, which influenced African-American and women's literature. In this episode, we speak with English Professor Gary Richards of The University of Mary Washington. The book is considered a classic of the Harlem Renaissance. Learn more about your ad ch…
…
continue reading
1
Ed Tech, AI, & The Unbundling of Research & Teaching
2:04:22
2:04:22
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
2:04:22
A 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 l…
…
continue reading
An 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 a…
…
continue reading
1
"My Antonia" by Willa Cather w/ Historian Richard Norton Smith
24:31
24:31
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
24:31
Willa Cather's novel, My Ántonia, evokes the Nebraska prairie life of her childhood and pays tribute to the spirit and courage of immigrant pioneers in America. Historian Richard Norton Smith discusses Cather's works, including My Antonia, which was written in 1918. The book tells the story of a girl who arrives on the frontier as part of a family …
…
continue reading
1
The Life of Mark Twain w/ Professor Matt Seybold
35:27
35:27
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
35:27
Our 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 megapho…
…
continue reading
As 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…
…
continue reading
1
"The Common Law" by Oliver Wendell Holmes w/ Historian Stephen Budiansky
29:08
29:08
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
29:08
Our guest this week is historian Stephen Budianksy, who shares his insights into the late Justice's life and work. After serving in the Civil War, during which he was wounded, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. became a scholar and jurist, eventually rising to the U.S. Supreme Court after being nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt. While practicing la…
…
continue reading
1
BookTube, BookTok, Wattpad, & The Audible Creation Exchange
1:41:47
1:41:47
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:41:47
What 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…
…
continue reading
1
Life of Frederick Douglass w/ Prof. David Blight
36:37
36:37
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:37
Our guest this week is Pultizer-Prize-winning Yale Professor David Blight. He expounds on the life of Frederick Douglas, when he learned to read and write, and his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln. Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Douglass went on to become a writer, orator, statesman, and key leader in the abolitionist movement.…
…
continue reading
What 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 e…
…
continue reading
1
Journals of Lewis and Clark w/ Author Lanny Jones
22:23
22:23
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
22:23
Our guest this week is author, historian, and magazine editor Lanny Jones. He is the author of "William Clark and the Shaping of the West. His latest work is Celebrity Nation. Shortly after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore and map the newly acquired territory and to s…
…
continue reading
An 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 …
…
continue reading
1
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay "The Federalist Papers"
33:53
33:53
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
33:53
Colleen Sheehan, Arizona State University Professor, discusses the early life and times of the Federalist's three authors. She explains how their lives challenged their writing and thinking. Plus their lasting legacy today. In September 1787, the newly drafted Constitution of the United States was sent to the states for ratification. Responding to …
…
continue reading
1
"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine (1776) w/ Professor Richard Bell
28:43
28:43
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:43
Richard Bell, a University of Maryland history professor discusses Thomas Paine's life, and what led him to publish Common Sense. Common Sense written by Thomas Paine is a 47-page pamphlet advocating for independence from Great Britain, it was published in 1776. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…
…
continue reading
1
The Chicago Fight & Economics Imperialism
1:17:35
1:17:35
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:17:35
The 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…
…
continue reading
1
The Chicago Fight & "Criticism Inc."
1:13:10
1:13:10
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:13:10
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 …
…
continue reading
A companion podcast to the 10-episode C-SPAN television series, Books that Shaped America, produced in partnership with the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress created the Books That Shaped America list to explore key works of literature from American history that have had a major impact on society. The 10 iconic books featured in the seri…
…
continue reading
What 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 …
…
continue reading
1
Ponzi Austerity & The Monolingual University
1:39:15
1:39:15
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:39:15
Last 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 …
…
continue reading
1
Ponzi Austerity in The Age of Cultural Abundance
1:24:45
1:24:45
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:24:45
How 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…
…
continue reading
1
Hungover From The Bad Old Days of High Theory
1:27:35
1:27:35
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:27:35
What 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 sta…
…
continue reading
1
The Golden Age of The Working Critic
1:20:25
1:20:25
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:20:25
The 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 Revie…
…
continue reading
A first look at the eighth season of The American Vandal Podcast, an assessment of the contemporary state of literary criticism and literary studies through conversations with more than two dozen scholars, students, editors, working critics, and other creators.
…
continue reading
1
Working Conditions with Christopher Newfield & Anna Kornbluh (50th Episode #MLA2023 Special)
1:00:00
1:00:00
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:00:00
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/WorkingConditions
…
continue reading
1
The Twitter Elegies (& Mastodon Scolds) with Rebecca Colesworthy & Jeff Jarvis
1:19:22
1:19:22
Play Later
Play Later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:19:22
Two 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/TheTwitterElegies…
…
continue reading
