[As another semester
concludes, this week’s series has recapped some of the wonderful texts we read
in my classes, along with some other Spring work of mine. Leading up to this
preview of coming attractions for the Summer and Fall semesters. I’d love to
hear about your work, past, present, or future, in comments!]
On three classes
I’m looking forward to in the months to come.
1)
Literature and Work for MAVA: As I’ve discussed
a few times in this space, I’ve now
taught three sections of Intro
to Speech for FSU’s BA
program for vocational educators. But this summer I’ll have the chance to
teach a lit course for them for the first time, and have decided to focus this
hybrid summer class on Literature and Work. I know some texts I’ll definitely
include—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s “The
Tenth of January,” Martín Espada’s “Who
Burns for the Perfection of Paper”—but there’s a lot of room on the
syllabus still, so I’d love any suggestions for short-ish literary texts that
engage with themes of work. Thanks!
2)
Grad Ethnic Literature: I’ll also be teaching an
FSU Graduate English course this summer per usual, this time one that’s been on
the books for a long while but hasn’t been taught since I came to FSU: Three
Ethnic Literatures: African American, Asian American, Native American. I’m not
yet sure what I’ll be teaching, but our grad students can read novels for
weekly in-person meetings (this class is also hybrid), so I’ll likely pick one
longer work for each tradition and then do shorter works and some criticism for
the hybrid/online meetings in between. Leaning toward Native Son, Typical American,
and Ceremony for the longer works,
but I’m open to suggestions!
3)
Major American Authors of the 20th
Century: This undergrad lit seminar is an old friend, although it’s been a
couple years. I should probably shake up the reading list at least a bit,
although I know for sure I’ll stick with the two-week units on Langston Hughes
and Sylvia Plath (reading many
of a poet’s collected works over two weeks is a profoundly different
experience from reading a poem or two). Sister Carrie and Native Son make for a great one-two punch to begin the class, so
those will likely stick as well. But I’m not as sure about the final three: Love Medicine, American Pastoral, and The
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. All wonderful books, but it might be time
to shake things up a bit. One more time, I’m open to suggestions!
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What have
you been or are you working on?
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