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Sam Thomas

@literarymetal.bsky.social

2K followers 1.9K following 180 posts

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Nov 14

Hello there! I'm a specialist in modern / contemporary US literature and culture. My ongoing work on Thomas Pynchon is really the spine of my career. Sometimes connected to and sometimes distinct from that, I also work on popular genres, on political violence, on TV, and on metal music.

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · 19h

Here we go....

Reposted by Sam Thomas

The Walrus @thewalrus.ca · 13d

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye sold just 2,000 copies in its first year. Today, it’s a number many authors can’t recover from. Writer @tajjaisen.bsky.social examines how the publishing industry’s sales track can make or break careers before they even begin: thewalrus.ca/the-publishing-i...

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Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 14d

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · 15d

Would likewise be interested to check out your list when it's ready. The above is still rolling....

Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · 15d

I have indeed! open.spotify.com/playlist/4F1...

2025!

open.spotify.com

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · 15d

Yep! I find it difficult to listen to most of those songs now. There's just no doubt, though, that it was truly transformative for me. Other records have been hugely important gateways / milestones and are still in rotation... But this is the foundation, no matter where I've roamed.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 24d

Many traditional forms of U.S. democracy, including the debate, have been emptied of their deliberative character & transformed into reactionary performances, as @thegurglingcod.bsky.social so powerfully shows.

Town Hall Meetings and the Death of Deliberation

Tracing the erosion of democratic norms in the US and the conditions that make it possible Jonathan Beecher Field tracks the permutations of the town hall me...

www.upress.umn.edu

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · 26d

My best experience of teaching contemporary TV is, by some distance, Justified. That show can take you so many places....

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 27d

The imagined consumer on the landing page for Google's NotebookLM is a student in an upper-division literature course who has been assigned James Joyce's "Ulysses," and asks the software to summarize the novel and identify its themes.

Who is this advertising for?

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Aug 29

youtu.be/dmjCATafn2Q?...

That final line from Del Toro. Given the movie's supposed debt to Vineland, my forthcoming piece on Pynchon and Star Wars is feeling pleasingly and unexpectedly timely!

One Battle After Another | "Baby"

YouTube video by Warner Bros.

youtu.be

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Arin Keeble @keeblearin.bsky.social · Aug 26

This is an absolute stunner. Out this week with @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social and this Autumn in the US with @graywolfpress.bsky.social. Beautifully translated by Natasha Wimmer. My review: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez review – a new vision of migration

A novel of interlocking stories captures the ordinary lives and interior worlds of Cuban exiles seeking sanctuary in Miami

www.theguardian.com

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Aug 18

Highly recommend this wonderful documentary @borninnocent.bsky.social about Redd Kross. Incredible stories, both dark and hilarious, great talking heads. No filler. It's super fun and fascinating to see how their career joins up so many strands of pop cultural history.
youtu.be/FcwDoLuo1QU?...

OFFICIAL TRAILER | BORN INNOCENT: THE REDD KROSS STORY

YouTube video by Abramorama

youtu.be

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 15

teachers!

excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone.

take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE
against-a-i.com

AGAINST AI

against-a-i.com

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Awesome - will do that shortly!

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Aug 14

Hi Dr. Joy - I'm co-editing a collection on Andor with my friend and collaborator Arin Keeble and we were wondering if you'd be interested in contributing? Apologies for this unconventional approach - we're struggling to find contact info.

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · Aug 12

Counterpoint: There is has never been a more urgent time to write a book. Technofascism is, among other things, an attempt to capture and enclose literature and literacy. Print is a rent strike.

kate wagner @katewagner.wehwalt.net · Aug 11

is there anything more pointless right now that writing a book? feels that way to me

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 4

NEW!
1st of 2 installments contextualizing Jameson's lectures at the 1977 Institute On Culture & Society, discusses "Marxism & Historicism," historicizing the lectures, recovering them, the commodity as its own ideology, long arc of Jameson's influence

theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/the-jameso...

The Jameson Tapes, Side A

with Isabel Bartholomew, Anna Kornbluh, Caleb Smith, Robert Tally, & Fredric Jameson

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Aug 1

Always excited to hear Kayo Dot

Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Jul 22

What to say??? For now, just... RIP Ozzy.

youtu.be/mfTpjrzas5E?...

BLACK SABBATH - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (Official Video)

YouTube video by Black Sabbath

youtu.be

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biblioklept @biblioklept.bsky.social · Jul 16

Cover for the U.S. edition of Pynchon's forthcoming novel SHADOW TICKET.

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Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · Jul 2

Indiana Jones will be played by a rotating cast of three adjuncts who answer to two different associate deans

GeekTyrant @geektyrant.com · Jul 2

Disney Reportedly Planning Full Reboot of the INDIANA JONES Franchise

It looks like Indiana Jones might actually be headed for the reboot treatment. According to a recent report from DisInsider , Disney and Lucasfilm are considering a full relaunch of the iconic adventure...

buff.ly

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Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Jun 16

Struggling to find words. This is a genuinely devastating loss. A real force for good in so many ways and an excellent friend. RIP Simon.

Durham UCU @ducu.bsky.social · Jun 15

Absolutely heartbroken to learn that Professor Simon James has passed away after a short illness. Simon was a stalwart union rep in the English Department, and a personal friend to many of us in the branch. We'll miss his humour, his passion, and his dedication to making things better for people.

Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Jun 8

A question for film industry scholars: Would I really be correct/fair in saying that for all the reams of material out there on George Lucas, the New Hollywood, Star Wars etc etc, from brilliant to awful, there's no comprehensive, major scholarly study of the development of Lucasfilm?

Sam Thomas @literarymetal.bsky.social · Jun 4

This has strengthened my (at this point slightly deranged) conviction in a long piece on Pynchon and Star Wars I've been developing (which at various points could of turned into a kind of Pynchon-Lucas-Jameson project).

Reposted by Sam Thomas

Anna Rose Holmer @annaroseholmer.bsky.social · May 8

Me after every episode of Andor:

The words GENERAL STRIKE in all caps, Star Wars iconic font

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