161 - Steinbeck Book Club, Dr. Michael Boyden on To a God Unknown

May 29, 2025 00:37:01
161 - Steinbeck Book Club, Dr. Michael Boyden on To a God Unknown
History of California Podcast
161 - Steinbeck Book Club, Dr. Michael Boyden on To a God Unknown

May 29 2025 | 00:37:01

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Show Notes

Today’s episode is the second part of a two-episode series on John Steinbeck’s novel To a God Unknown. I wanted to do two episodes on this because the novel is fascinating, complex, and at times mystifying—and I wanted to get a few different perspectives to better understand it.

Today’s guest is Dr. Michael Boyden, a professor in both the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures as well as the Institute for Culture and History. His primary interest is in American literature, with a special focus on ecocriticism, Anthropocene studies, and critical sustainability studies.

I read a fascinating article he published on To a God Unknown, which examines the novel from an ecological perspective, and I was eager to talk with him about it. We cover a lot of ground—some topics echo my first conversation with Dr. Rivers—but we dive deeper into the ecological dimensions this time around.

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