The Spectral Summit
This podcast looks at historic literature and figures from the past. We'll start with a 16-year-old Ben Franklin pranking his brother James in 1722 by writing essays as a middle-aged New England widow who savagely critiques colonial Boston and Harvard. Future episodes include interviews with Warren G. Harding, FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt and Edgar Allen Poe. Stay tuned!
The Spectral Summit
Latest Episodes
Silence Dogood Essay No. 8 - Freedom of Speech
In this essay, teen Ben Franklin addresses the importance of Freedom of Speech after his brother James is arrested by the authorities in New England for "Publishing too freely." While his brother is in jail, Ben the apprentice, who was not allo...
Silence Dogood Essay No. 7 - Drunkenness & Boston Nightlife
In this essay, in which Teen Ben Franklin trolls his brother, Silence Dogood recounts a dream — a clever literary device Franklin borrowed from writers like Joseph Addison — in which she visits the Temple of Theology and witnesses a strange pro...
Silence Dogood Essay No. 6 - The Vice of Pride
Having moved from the countryside to Boston for the summer, Mrs. Dogood sets her sights on one of colonial society's most despised flaws: pride. Franklin crafts a sharp and funny meditation on vanity, describing how pride blinds people to their...
Silence Dogood Essay No. 5 — Pride and Idleness
In this installment, Teen Ben Franklin uses Silence to push back against a male critic - in today's world, we might call him part of the manosphere- when he suggests that she should criticize women for being lazy before turning her ire t...
