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

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

I’vewritten a lot in this space, especially in semesterpreviews and reflectionsseries, on my back and forth, both over the last few years and in differentspecific courses, on whether to continue using longer readings like novels orto focus entirely on shorter texts. My default has certainly shifted towardshorter works, not only for reasons of attention span/focus but also because suchworks are much more frequently available online for free (I try hard these daysnot to require students to purchase readings). But I try to approach eachcourse and case on its own terms, and to think about when and how it does makesense to use some longer works as well. This Spring I’ll be doing so in bothyesterday’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 TheMarrow of Tradition. Both of those late 19th century works arechallenging to read in 2025, and I don’t expect most of the students will getthrough all of them (and they’re able to do the work successfully even if theycan’t, to be clear). But I believe that they are well worth making the effortfor, and that the effort itself, the goal of staying focused on and engagedwith a longer text, is a skill worth continuing to practice despite all its2025 challenges.

Lastpreview post tomorrow,

Ben

PS. What’son your radar?