Podcast appearances and mentions of greg barnhisel

An interview with Greg Barnhisel, author of Code Name Puritan. The book is a fascinating biography of Norman Holmes Pearson, an unassuming literary scholar and part-time spy who transformed postwar American culture.

Norman Holmes Pearson, who in the middle years of the twentieth century was a professor of English and American Studies at Yale University, is now a largely forgotten figure — and someone who was never that well known during his lifetime. But Duquesne University professor Greg Barnhisel, in his intriguing new biography of Pearson, sees him as a critical figure in several important areas of American life and culture. Code Name Puritan: Norman Holmes Pearson at the Nexus of Poetry, Espionage, and American Power, demonstrates how Pearson was an important force in legitimizing American modernism (particularly in literature) as a significant cultural enterprise and subject of academic study. During World War II, Pearson was a prominent agent working for the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency) as head of Anglo-British counterintelligence operations. And Pearson also was a key player in establishing American Studies as an academic discipline and helping to promulgate its study overseas as part of a larger effort to promote American interests abroad during the Cold War.  In this podcast discussion, Barnhisel discusses how Pearson's physical disability — what was then called a defect or deformity — may have given him greater receptivity toward the cultural dissidents of the modernist movement, certainly compared to other members of his Puritan-descended WASP class. Barnhisel focuses on Pearson's close relationships with authors including W. H. Auden and especially H.D., one of the handful of women poets who were important in pre-World War I avant-garde circles and who has come to be recognized as a central figure in the history of modernist literature.Pearson forged a relationship with H.D. and her partner, the English novelist Bryher, when he was stationed in London during World War II as head of the X-2 counterintelligence agency. Barnhisel analyzes what made humanist academics like Pearson effective as intelligence agents and how their influence carried over to academia after the war. Barnhisel also discusses the creation of the American Studies discipline, its relationship to the Cold War, and how Pearson's view of the importance of institutions would become increasingly marginalized within the discipline as it moved leftward following the 1960s. Ultimately, Barnhisel feels that Pearson's experiences and consideration of his Puritan background marked him as a man of the Vital Center: “As a neo-Puritan, Pearson felt that the stability and meaning provided by institutions had to be balanced with the dynamism and fertility of the creative individual mind. He was wary of the conformity that an organization-dominated society engendered.”

After a severe fever in 1776, Rhode Island farmer's daughter Jemima Wilkinson was reborn as a genderless celestial being who had been sent to warn of the coming Apocalypse. But the general public was too scandalized by the messenger to pay heed to the message. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Public Universal Friend and the prejudiced reaction of a newly formed nation. We'll also bid on an immortal piano and puzzle over some Icelandic conceptions. Intro: When identical images of a tower are placed side by side, the towers appear to diverge. In 2002, Erl E. Kepner patented a one-sided coffee mug. Sources for our feature on the Public Universal Friend: Paul B. Moyer, The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America, 2015. Herbert Andrew Wisbey, Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend, 1964. Catherine A. Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740-1845, 2000. Michael Bronski, A Queer History of the United States, 2011. Joel Whitney Tibbetts, Women Who Were Called: A Study of the Contributions to American Christianity of Ann Lee, Jemima Wilkinson, Mary Baker Eddy and Aimee Semple McPherson, 1978. Stafford Canning Cleveland, History and Directory of Yates County, 1873. Lewis Cass Aldrich, History of Yates County, N.Y., 1892. Wilkins Updike, James MacSparran, and Daniel Goodwin, A History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, Volume 1, 1907. Sharon Betcher, "'The Second Descent of the Spirit of Life from God': The Assumption of Jemima Wilkinson," in Brenda E. Brasher and Lee Quinby, eds., Gender and Apocalyptic Desire, 2014. Paul Buckley, "The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America," Friends Journal 62:6 (June-July 2016), 38. Scott Larson, "'Indescribable Being': Theological Performances of Genderlessness in the Society of the Publick Universal Friend, 1776-1819," Early American Studies 12:3 (Fall 2014), 576-600. Shelby M. Balik, "The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America," Journal of the Early Republic 38:1, 157-160. Gwen Gosney Erickson, "The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America," Quaker History 106:1 (Spring 2017), 28-29. Beverly C. Tomek, "The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America," Journal of American History 103:3 (December 2016), 746–747. Charles Lowell Marlin, "Jemima Wilkinson: Errant Quaker Divine," Quaker History 52:2 (Autumn 1963), 90-94. Jeremy Rapport, "The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America," Early American Literature 52:1 (2017), 249-253, 267. Janet Moore Lindman, "From Salvation to Damnation: Popular Religion in Early America," Reviews in American History 45:4 (December 2017), 570-575. Margaret Bendroth, "Angry Women and the History of American Evangelicalism," Fides et Historia 34:2 (Summer 2002), 113. Samantha Schmidt, "A Genderless Prophet Drew Hundreds of Followers Long Before the Age of Nonbinary Pronouns," Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2020. Molly Worthen, "A Tour Through the 'American Messiahs' of Our Past," New York Times, April 26, 2019. Greg Barnhisel, "The Book of Nonconformists: America Has Always Been a Home to Self-Styled Messiahs," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 7, 2019, E5. Chris Jennings, "The Prophets Among Us," Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2019, A15. Gary Craig, "'Friend' Fund Named in Suit Found Offshore," Rochester [N.Y.] Democrat and Chronicle, Jan. 7, 2007, A7. "Life Story: The Public Universal Friend (1752–1819)," Women & The American Story, New York Historical Society (accessed Feb. 25, 2020). Listener mail: Sonia Purnell, A Woman of No Importance, 2019. "Britain's Secret WWII Weapons Revealed," BBC News, Oct. 26, 1999. Patrick Sawer and Hannah Furness, "From Garlic Chocolate to Exploding Animal Droppings: How Britain's Weird WWII Inventions Helped Fool the Nazis," Telegraph, June 1, 2017. Neil Johnston, "Weird Weapons That Nobbled Nazis Revealed in New Book," Times, June 2, 2017. Wikipedia, "Charles Fraser-Smith" (accessed Feb. 29, 2020). Wikipedia, "Q-Ship" (accessed Feb. 29, 2020). James Barron, "Charles Fraser-Smith, Mr. Gadget For James Bond Tales, Dies at 88," New York Times, Nov. 13, 1992. Barry Fox, "Review: Careful Carruthers, That Paper Clip Is Loaded," New Scientist, Aug. 14, 1993. Owen Mortimer, "'Immortal Piano' Offered for Sale Online," Rhinegold Publishing, Jan. 20, 2020. Russian pianist Anatole Kitain performs the Adagio from Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564, on the Siena piano. eBay, "Siena Pianoforte Immortal Piano Marchisio 1800's Sculpted By Bartalozzi & Ferri," listing ended Feb. 5, 2020. "Seized by Nazis, Found in Israel, 'Immortal Piano' Expected to Fetch $1m," Times of Israel, March 1, 2020. "'Immortal Piano' Set for Israel Auction," ArtDaily, March 6, 2020. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Chris Pallant. Here's a corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel's extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel's extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology.

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel’s extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel’s extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel’s extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel’s extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Barnhisel‘s new book, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (Columbia UP, 2015) examines how modernism was defanged, re-packaged, and resold during the Cold War. Barnhisel, an Associate Professor at Duquesne University, reveals that–from its incendiary beginnings–modernism was made safe for the bourgeois West thanks to the intervention of unlikely contributors like the CIA, the Department of State, and even major corporations. Barnhisel’s extensive archival research unearths the thinking that went into the repurposing of modernism to support American cold-war ideology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices