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Matt 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.\xa0

Our conservation focuses, in particular, on The American Vandal\u2019s magisterial eighth series titled, \u201cCriticism LTD.\u201d With 16 episodes totaling 24-hours of listening, \u201cCriticism LTD\u201d marshals a diverse cast of over 50 voices to provide fresh perspectives on the origins & trajectories of literary criticism and the so-called \u201ccrisis of humanities.\u201d Episodes take on a wide range of topics, including: the marked contrast between today\u2019s \u201cgolden age of criticism\u201d (Ryan Ruby) in amateur and para-academic venues and the \u201cPonzi Austerity\u201d (Yanis Varoufakis) and \u201cEd-Tech Griftopia\u201d (Seybold) undermining contemporary academic research and instruction; the mid-20th-century trouncing of the neo-Aristotelian Chicago School Critics by the neoliberal Chicago School Economists; how the ugly politics of race, class, gender, and colonialism have both informed and met resist in practices of close reading; and the importance of the 19th-century feud over literary criticism between Matthew Arnold and Mark Twain for imaginatively contesting imperialism, then and now. \u201cCriticism LTD\u201d has much to offer teachers, researchers, organizers, and creators interested in building a more humane, collaborative, and democratic education system in the shell of the old.\xa0

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Music by Nahneen Kula: www.nahneenkula.com