Luckily, I think, Mark Twain studies seem to be a bit more lucid on the
whole than other fields.  But personally, I'm very disappointed by what you
call the "whiteoppressionimperialisticracegenderclass diversion," which
does (in my opinion) dominate so much of literary studies today.  As a
recent Ph.D. in English who has tested the job market, I can tell you that
few universities seem interested in someone "olf-fashioned" like me--
someone who just wants to study literature, not run for political office.
It saddens me, although at least I'm better off than most; I have an MBA to
fall back on, and can work in the "real" world.  It's not what I'd rather
be doing.  But I refuse to write the sort of masturbatory trash the often
passes for literary scholarship today.

Scott Dalrymple