Thanks, Hal. In the spirit of your inquiry, I want to reiterate that my own
embrace of presentism is recent and, I'll admit, still emergent and
unsettled. I'm part of a keyword seminar at the upcoming C19 conference in
which I am actually taking a contrarian position, arguing the ways in which
presentism has been detrimental to economics as a discipline.

Here's a quick and, I think, helpful definition from the V21 Collective:

"One outcome of post-historicist interpretation may be a new openness to
*presentism*: an awareness that our interest in the period is motivated by
certain features of our own moment. In finance, resource mining,
globalization, imperialism, liberalism, and many other vectors, we
*are* Victorian,
inhabiting, advancing, and resisting the world they made. The aesthetic
forms the Victorians pioneered and perfected continue to dominate popular
and avant-garde cultural production. The conceptual problems, political
quandaries, and theoretical issues they broached remain pressing and
contentious. A survey of the Victorian period is a survey of empire, war,
and ecological destruction. Insofar as the world we inhabit bears the
traces of the nineteenth century, these traces are to be found not only in
serial multiplot narrative, but in income inequality, global warming, and
neoliberalism. Presentism is not a sin, but nor are all forms of presentism
equally valuable. The variations of and alternatives to presentism as such
have not yet been adequately described or theorized." (full manifesto here:
http://v21collective.org/manifesto-of-the-v21-collective-ten-theses/)

Anna Kornbluh has, more recently, advocated for "strategic presentism" in a
special issue of *Victorian Studies. *I recommend this issue because it
includes perspectives on presentism from several Victorian scholars (
https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/35929). Here's a good pull quote from Anna's
piece:

"Victorian presentism refracted as strategic presentism in Victorian
studies pressingly opposes significant academic trends in our own
present—trendy demands that literary scholars ought to renounce the very
project of critical intervention, resign the very enterprise of critically
engaging with formations of the political, and aim instead for scientific
accuracy, stockpiled information, big data, MRIs, facts. Strategic
presentism opposes these tendencies in favor of dynamizing in the past that
which is decidedly urgent today: Gissing’s presentism of space, spatial
thinking, thinking of adjacency and extent, thinking of generality,
systematicity, and abstraction. Such thinking must be governed by two
simultaneous principles: illuminating Victorian structures that
overdetermine contemporary experience—financial capitalism, virulent
patriarchy, violent racism, rapacious imperialism—and projectively mapping
other structures, other spaces.*"*

*Finally, *most directly in our wheelhouse is Jeff Insko's recent
book, *History,
Abolition, & The Ever-Present Now *(Oxford UP, 2019), which, ingeniously,
makes a historicist argument that the values of historicism are
themselves anachronistic, looking particularly at how many of the most
canonical authors of the American Renaissance viewed history as even
anti-contextual, as only useful through the lens of the present and the
subjectivities of the living. I don't want to say too much about my own,
still evolving essay, but since reading Jeff's book, I have increasingly
felt that Twain shares this conception of presentism.

Best,

MS

On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 11:41 AM Hal Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks to all, but especially Matt for a very kind and interesting
> response.  In saying this: "presentism has a legitimate place in both our
> classrooms and our scholarship -- well, I'd actually and genuinely like to
> hear more about what you might mean by that, but I am not familiar with
> those scholars other than Jocelyn.  Great topic for a round-table?? But
> tell me some things you have in mind, in invoking people like Insko et al.
>
> Also: does presentism have illegitimate uses in the classroom? Thus, I
> also fear we may be naming different things with this term "presentism."
> For example, I just think it would be very hard / impossible for MT to
> conceptualize BLM, in any meaningful way and for a variety of reason. On
> the other hand, since you did mention Baldwin, Eddie Glaude's new book
> Begin Again is a rather thrilling look at how JB's life and thought do
> intersect with current events and, perhaps more powerfully, with Glaude
> himself. It is perhaps a scholarly take on the "legitimate place" this
> thing we are calling presentism might have for us as teachers, and it shows
> how personal some of this can be. Larry's piece about black witness does
> some of that too. These authors have a real personal and present sense to
> us, don't they?
>
> Thanks for any further thoughts, I welcome more on the topic from any and
> all,
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Hal Bush
>
> Professor of English &
>
> Director of the Undergraduate Program
>
> Saint Louis University
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 314-977-3616
>
> http://halbush.com
>
> author website:  halbush.com
>
> ________________________________
> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Matthew Seybold <
> [log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 10:03 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [External] Re: If Alive Today, Would Mark Twain support
> "Black Lives Matter"?
>
> Thank you, Barbara and Larry. The video was created expressly for helping
> with emergency remote teaching. Jocelyn Chadwick and I put together a
> collection of resources for teachers with specific attention to current
> events. You can check it out here:
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://marktwainstudies.com/teaching-twain-during-a-pandemic-2020-summer-teachers-institute/__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PCjJ9vx6xw$
>
> While I agree with Hal that it is dangerous to put words in Twain's mouth
> or that of any historical figure, I am persuaded by a number of scholars -
> foremost Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Jesse Goldberg, and Jocelyn Chadwick
> - that presentism has a legitimate place in both our classrooms and our
> scholarship. The key is not ventriloquizing, but recognizing that current
> events are usually part of a continuum of either recurring or perpetual
> political movements and social structures. It is not anachronistic to
> invoke Twain (or Baldwin, etc.), so long as we establish that they were
> commenting upon core structural racism which was part of U.S. policing at
> its origins and remains in every ensuing epoch. It is important to grapple
> with the changing local details, or course, because that is the type of
> analysis which can expose potential avenues (and dead ends) for advocacy in
> our own time.
>
> - MS
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 10:49 AM Larry Howe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Very kind of Matt to recommend my essay on
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://Marktwainstudies.org__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PCijjrAPIw$
> .  I’ll
> > return the favor by applauding his piece on Mark Twain and the police.
> > This an excellent mini-podcast with production values that match the
> > insightful content.
> >
> > —Larry Howe
> >
> > Get Outlook for iOS<
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://aka.ms/o0ukef__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PCjFNwyDfg$
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Hal Bush <
> > [log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 9:40:19 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: [External] Re: If Alive Today, Would Mark Twain support
> > "Black Lives Matter"?
> >
> > [Sent by an External User]
> >
> > Just to push back on this thread a bit: if Harriet Beecher Stowe were
> > alive today, would she be a follower of Blackpink on Instagram??
> >
> > All kidding aside, these forays into "presentism" seem historically
> > dishonest to me. I once even wrote a long essay about that in NEQ, called
> > "Our MT?"; but the earlier argument I cribbed a lot from, in terms of MT
> > and theory, was by Richard Hill, titled "Overreaching," and you can track
> > that one down in the Critical editions version of HF, ed. by Gerald
> Graff.
> > I used Richard's fine article for years; it's provocatively subtitled:
> > "Critical Agendas and the Ending of AHF," and I don't imagine everyone
> will
> > agree with some of what he suggests. But the conversations are often
> pretty
> > decent.
> >
> > Here's my point: these "if he were alive today..." queries seem rather
> > pointless to me--and possible dangerous, I guess. Beware of
> "overreaching,"
> > my friends. Anyway, I thought I would register my reservations, and see
> > what happens next!  (really I'm just procrastinating from doing the
> actual
> > work that pays for my wifi...)
> >
> >
> >
> > Dr. Hal Bush
> >
> > Professor of English &
> >
> > Director of the Undergraduate Program
> >
> > Saint Louis University
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > 314-977-3616
> >
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__halbush.com&d=DwIF-g&c=a-IB_GMEfAZCNvTl5o6ZExYKmR-HZTqw1M_ZxQv8eiY&r=M7fe_5tVzFcSaDV_TGyMVieQKup7oSC-0rxoDyxcCJY&m=VF-gPvske53dgxF-EvOsCv0Vs6BHGX8OG2FwW69ECHA&s=ecjZVLnHdparXKQ9vyCiQByXzbGLri1mAtwutkUb5SQ&e=
> >
> > author website:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://halbush.com__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PChUKk_xPg$
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Matthew Seybold <
> > [log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Monday, August 10, 2020 9:18 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: [External] Re: If Alive Today, Would Mark Twain support "Black
> > Lives Matter"?
> >
> > I'm writing an essay about Twain's public fight against racialized police
> > violence in 1860s San Francisco. I made a very short video version for
> our
> > Teachers Institute earlier this Summer:
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://youtu.be/5gVlDbX2pcs__;!!K543PA!bDpoj1k0qp3CZzWMmjs_6marPOgESJEUZu5cX23M5FCxMr2NqeRP3aUe7arMRg$
> >
> > I must also recommend Larry Howe's recent, related essay: "Black Lives
> > Matter at Quarry Farm."
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://marktwainstudies.com/black-lives-matter-at-quarry-farm/__;!!K543PA!bDpoj1k0qp3CZzWMmjs_6marPOgESJEUZu5cX23M5FCxMr2NqeRP3VkFhkpk3g$
> >
> > As Twain says, "Let us abolish policemen who carry revolvers and clubs,
> and
> > put in a squad of poets armed to the teeth with poems on Spring and
> love."
> >
> > - MS
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 9:17 AM Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >
> > > If Alive Today, Would Mark Twain support "Black Lives Matter"?
> > > I believe that he doubtless would.
> > > By exposing the way some white folks thought at the time (mid-1800s)
> and
> > > place (Mississippi River valley), Mark Twain made the point in
> > "Adventures
> > > of Huckleberry Finn" that Black Lives Matter.
> > > You might even say that is the whole theme of the book. For one example
> > of
> > > that, note this passage from Chapter 33 where Twain, in a
> tongue-in-cheek
> > > way, underscores the illogical thinking of some white people of the
> time
> > > and place:
> > > “Now I can have a good look at you; and, laws-a-me, I’ve been hungry
> for
> > > it a many and a many a time, all these long years, and it’s come at
> last!
> > > We been expecting you a couple of days and more.  What kep’ you?—boat
> get
> > > aground?”
> > > “Yes’m—she—”
> > > “Don’t say yes’m—say Aunt Sally.  Where’d she get aground?”
> > > I didn’t rightly know what to say, because I didn’t know whether the
> boat
> > > would be coming up the river or down.  But I go a good deal on
> instinct;
> > > and my instinct said she would be coming up—from down towards Orleans.
> > That
> > > didn’t help me much, though; for I didn’t know the names of bars down
> > that
> > > way.  I see I’d got to invent a bar, or forget the name of the one we
> got
> > > aground on—or—Now I struck an idea, and fetched it out:
> > > “It warn’t the grounding—that didn’t keep us back but a little.  We
> > blowed
> > > out a cylinder-head.”
> > > “Good gracious! anybody hurt?”
> > > “No’m.  Killed a nigger.”
> > > “Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.  Two years ago
> > > last Christmas your uncle Silas was coming up from Newrleans on the old
> > > Lally Rook, and she blowed out a cylinder-head and crippled a man.
> And I
> > > think he died afterwards.  He was a Baptist.  Your uncle Silas knowed a
> > > family in Baton Rouge that knowed his people very well.  Yes, I
> remember
> > > now, he did die.  Mortification set in, and they had to amputate him.
> But
> > > it didn’t save him.  Yes, it was mortification—that was it.  He turned
> > blue
> > > all over, and died in the hope of a glorious resurrection. They say he
> > was
> > > a sight to look at.
> > >
> > >
> > > - B. Clay Shannon
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Matt Seybold
> > Assistant Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies
> > Elmira College
> > Editor,
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://MarkTwainStudies.org__;!!K543PA!bDpoj1k0qp3CZzWMmjs_6marPOgESJEUZu5cX23M5FCxMr2NqeRP3VnOFIzS0A$
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://MattSeybold.com__;!!K543PA!bDpoj1k0qp3CZzWMmjs_6marPOgESJEUZu5cX23M5FCxMr2NqeRP3VkV6uzSzw$
> >
>
>
> --
> Matt Seybold
> Assistant Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies
> Elmira College
> Editor,
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://MarkTwainStudies.org__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PCixotk0IA$
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://MattSeybold.com__;!!K543PA!f9KZBs4v_LrUJIM-r56jvwyHaMlVOZc0ypztsNcviifCovJo4th9PCg_Fgeu4g$
>


-- 
Matt Seybold
Assistant Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies
Elmira College
Editor, MarkTwainStudies.org
MattSeybold.com