[As my 20th (!) year at Fitchburg State University kicks off, I’ll focus my Fall Semester previews on one thing I’m especially excited about for each of my courses. Leading up to a special post on a new scholarly project I’m very excited about as well!]
As I’ve traced
here in multiple end of semester reflection posts (hyperlinked below), one of
my favorite things over the last few years of teaching has been the opportunity
for my English Studies Senior Capstone students to connect with authors we’ve
read in that course. That’s included my fellow public scholar Kevin
Gannon for his book Radical Hope, but also the authors of our last
two 21st century literary texts: Monique
Truong and Eric
Nguyen. I try to keep that spot on the syllabus particularly fresh, so for
this semester’s Capstone section I’ve slotted in a new, very recent novel: Jesmyn
Ward’s bracing and beautiful Let
Us Descend (2023). I know the students will get a lot out of Ward’s
book no matter what, and I’m excited to have a couple weeks of intense
conversations about this intense and important novel. But I’m certainly hoping
we can connect with Ward, at the very least to share some questions as I did
with Nguyen last year. I’ll keep y’all posted on the results!
Next
preview post tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
are you excited to teach or work on this Fall?
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