The Red Pen

Episode 5: Who Was the Man Who Betrayed Harry Styles

Episode Summary

Austin journeys through the annals of revisionist history with Monique Truong's The Book of Salt and Ron Hansen's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Amanda has a meltdown over a man named Bobert. This episode tackles big sexy metaphors, the future of real person fan fiction, and the great power (and great responsibility) of using fiction to counter dominant historical narratives. Content warnings: discussion of racism and xenophobia, serial killers, and awful dudes from history.

Episode Notes

Austin journeys through the annals of revisionist history with Monique Truong's The Book of Salt and Ron Hansen's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Amanda has a meltdown over a man named Bobert. This episode tackles big sexy metaphors, the future of real person fan fiction, and the great power (and great responsibility) of using fiction to counter dominant historical narratives.

Content warnings: discussion of racism and xenophobia, serial killers, and awful dudes from history.

Works Cited:

The Book of Salt by Monique Truong

Miss Fur and Miss Skeene by Gertrude Stein

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Narratives of Empire (series) by Gore Vidal

Hamilton: An American Musical (Musical)

Wilde (Film)

Jude's Law's filmography

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate DLC - Jack the Ripper

The Red Pen is produced by Amanda Jean.

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