Engl 3040 Literary Nonfiction, Fall 2025

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Calendar
last update: August 20, 2025

 

- Class meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:40am to 12:35pm in Gilbreath Hall, 313.

 

WEEK 1 

Monday, Aug 25: Introductions.

Wednesday, Aug 27: Read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, through Chapter 4 (to page 61). 

Friday, Aug 29: Class cancelled. D2L discussion due.

 

WEEK 2

Monday, Sep 1:  Labor day.

Wednesday, Sep 3: Read Wild through Chapter 14 (to page 237).

Friday, Sep 5:

Finish Wild. Also read the following review essays:

- "The Tracks of an Author’s, and a Reader’s, Tears: ‘Wild’ by Cheryl Strayed, a Walkabout of Reinvention." By Dwight Garner. New York Times Book Review, March 27, 2012. www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/books/wild-by-cheryl-strayed-a-walkabout-of-reinvention.html.  (Click here for a cached version.) 

- "The Outsiders: 'Wild' and 'Mr. Turner' [The Current Cinema]." By David Denby. The New Yorker, December 8, 2014. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/08/outsiders-5. (Click here for a cached version.)

 

WEEK 3 

Monday, Sep 8: Read The Anthropocene..., essays 1-20, through page 120.  

Wednesday, Sep 10: Read The Anthropocene..., essays 21-37, pages 121-222.  

Friday, Sep 12: Class cancelled. 

 

WEEK 4

Monday, Sep 15: Read The Anthropocene..., essays 38-49, pages 223-295.  

 

Wednesday, Sep 17 

Read the following:

- "John Green Is Not Writing in Code," by Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times, June 10, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/books/review/john-green-the-anthropocene-reviewed.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

- "Author John Green Explores How to Live in Uncertainty in 'The Anthropocene Reviewed'." By Adam Frank. National Public Radio, May 18, 2021. www.npr.org/2021/05/18/997793426/author-john-green-explores-how-to-live-in-uncertainty-in-the-anthropocene-review

Browse the following podcast episodes and listen to at least three of them. Compare them to the corresponding written essays in John Green's book:

- The Anthropocene Reviewed. Index of Podcast Episodes (most recent episode dated August 26, 2021). By John Green. NYC Studios. National Public Radio. www.npr.org/podcasts/735466018/the-anthropocene-reviewed 

 

Friday, Sep 19 

Read, in Frederick Douglass's 1845 narrative, William Lloyd Garrison's preface, and Chapters I and II of the narrative. Bring the book to class. 

 

WEEK 5 

Monday, Sep 22

Read Douglass, Chapters III to IX.

 

Wednesday, Sep 24 

Read Douglass, Chapters X and XI. 

Also read these two book reviews:

- "Review of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." New York Tribune, 10 June 1845. At U of North Carolina's "Documenting the American South" website:  docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/support3.html, accessed August 2023.

- "A Big New Biography Treats Frederick Douglass as Man, Not Myth." [Review of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by David W. Blight.]  By Jennifer Szalai. The New York Times, October 17, 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/books/review-frederick-douglass-prophet-of-freedom-david-blight.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

 

Friday, Sep 26: Class cancelled.  D2L discussion due.

 

WEEK 6

Monday, Sep 29 

Read Part I of In Cold Blood: "The Last to See Them Alive."

Also read "Capote’s Masterpiece ‘In Cold Blood’ Still Vivid at 50." By Jessica Ferri. The Daily Beast, December 28, 2016. www.thedailybeast.com/capotes-masterpiece-in-cold-blood-still-vivid-at-50

 

Wednesday, Oct 1

Read Part II of In Cold Blood: "Persons Unknown." 

 

Friday, Oct 3 

Read Part III of In Cold Blood: "Answer." 

 

WEEK 7

Monday, Oct 6 

First draft of book review essay due -- Peer review. Bring to class a rough draft of your book review essay (750-1,250 words). Bring a total of 3 copies for a peer review workshop. 

 

Wednesday, Oct 8

Read Part IV of In Cold Blood: "The Corner." 

Also browse through Joan Didion's collection of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Bring the book to class.

 

Friday, Oct 10: Class cancelled.

 

WEEK 8

Monday, Oct 13: Fall break!

 

Wednesday, Oct 15

Revised book review due.

Read the first two parts of Slouching Towards Bethlehem, through page 168.

 

Friday, Oct 17

Read part III of Didion's collection -- pages 171-238.

Also read "The Essential Joan Didion," by Alissa Wilkinson. The New York Times, April 26, 2024. www.nytimes.com/article/joan-didion-best-books.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

 

WEEK 9

Monday, Oct 20 

Begin reading Spiegelman's Maus. Bring the book to class.

Also read "Art Spiegelman’s Genre-Defying Holocaust Work, Revisited." By Ruth Franklin. The New Republic, October 5, 2011. newrepublic.com/article/95758/art-spiegelman-metamaus-holocaust-memoir-graphic-novel. (Click here for a cached version.)

 

Wednesday, Oct 22 

Finish Volume I of Spiegelman's Maus (pages 1-161). 

 

Friday, Oct 24: Class cancelled.

 

WEEK 10

Monday, Oct 27 

Read Maus Vol II, through Chapter 3 (pages 169-260). 

 

Wednesday, Oct 29 

Read Maus Vol II, Chapters 4 and 5 (pages 261-296). 

 

Friday, Oct 31 

Draft of the script for your youtube podcast due. Bring a total of 3 copies for a peer review workshop. 

 

WEEK 11

Monday, Nov 3 

In David Foster Wallace's collection, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, read the long title essay, which is about a cruise ship experience: "A Supposedly Fun Thing..." 

 

Wednesday, Nov 5 

Read "Consider the Lobster," by David Foster Wallace. Gourmet Magazine, August 2004. www.gourmet.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

 

Friday, Nov 7: Class cancelled.

Podcast posted on youtube, due.

 

WEEK 12

Monday, Nov 10 

Read D. F. Wallace's essay on the Illinois State Fair, entitled "Getting Away from Already Pretty Much Being Away from It All," pages 83 to 137. 

 

Wednesday, Nov 12 

Read the following online reviews:

- "An Appreciation: Exuberant Riffs on a Land Run Amok" [upon the death of David Foster Wallace]. Michiko Kakutani. New York Times. September 14, 2008. www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/books/15kaku.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

- "Timing, Patience and Wisdom Are the Secrets to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Success." By Elisabeth Egan. The New York Times, November 5, 2020. www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/books/review/robin-wall-kimmerer-braiding-sweetgrass.html. (Click here for a cached version.)

- "Book World: 'Braiding Sweetgrass' has gone from surprise hit to juggernaut bestseller." By Karen Heller. The Washington Post, October 13, 2022. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/sweetgrass_wapo.pdf

 

Friday, Nov 14 

In Braiding Sweetgrass, read the Preface and the first six essays, through page 59.

 

WEEK 13

Monday, Nov 17

Read five more essays from Braiding Sweetgrass: pages 63 to 117.

 

Wednesday, Nov 19 

In Braiding Sweetgrass, read "Putting Down Roots," pages 254 to 267. Also, browse the rest of the book and pick three additional essays to read. Come to class prepared to discuss the essays you chose.

 

Friday, Nov 21: Class cancelled. 

 

WEEK 14

Monday, Nov 24

First draft of your lit nonfiction due -- Peer review

Bring to class a rough draft of your own literary nonfiction (1,000-2,000 words). Bring a total of 3 copies for a peer review workshop. 

 

Wednesday, Nov 26: Thanksgiving holiday.

Friday, Nov 28: Thanksgiving holiday.

 

WEEK 15

Monday, Dec 1: Revised literary nonfiction due. 

Wednesday, Dec 3: In-class review for final exam.

Friday, Dec 5: ETSU "Study Day," no classes.

 

            Final exam: Monday, Dec 8, 3:50-5:50pm