Season 11 · Episode 2
Cruel Optimism & The Enclosure of the Commons
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 ...
The American Vandal · Matt Seybold, Center For Mark Twain Studies
September 12, 20241h 5m
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Show Notes
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 Warner's fraught attempts to periodize and historicize its contemporary political moment [21:00].
Cast (in order of appearance): Astra Taylor, Matt Seybold, Nathan Wolff
Soundtrack: DownRiver Collective
Narration: Nathan Osgood & SNR Audio
For more about this episode, including a complete bibliography, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/RobinHood, or subscribe to Matt Seybold's newsletter at TheAmericanVandal.substack.com