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$
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