My New Book!

My New Book!
My New Book!

Thursday, January 16, 2025

January 16, 2025: Spring Semester Previews: American Literature II

[Another Spring semester is upon us, and with it my annual Spring semester previews. This time I’ll focus on one skill I’m excited to be teaching as part of each of these courses. Please share what you’ve got going on this semester and year as well!]

I’ve written a lot in this space, especially in semester previews and reflections series, on my back and forth, both over the last few years and in different specific courses, on whether to continue using longer readings like novels or to focus entirely on shorter texts. My default has certainly shifted toward shorter works, not only for reasons of attention span/focus but also because such works are much more frequently available online for free (I try hard these days not to require students to purchase readings). But I try to approach each course and case on its own terms, and to think about when and how it does make sense to use some longer works as well. This Spring I’ll be doing so in both yesterday’s subject (Major American Authors) and in my American Lit II survey, we’re start for example with two weeks each on Huck Finn and The Marrow of Tradition. Both of those late 19th century works are challenging to read in 2025, and I don’t expect most of the students will get through all of them (and they’re able to do the work successfully even if they can’t, to be clear). But I believe that they are well worth making the effort for, and that the effort itself, the goal of staying focused on and engaged with a longer text, is a skill worth continuing to practice despite all its 2025 challenges.

Last preview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’s on your radar?

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