Engl 5750 Seminar in American Lit: Environmental Writing, Spring 2026

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[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Online Readings ]

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Calendar
last update: January 8, 2026

Week 1 -- Thurs Jan 22

Read these ahead of time if you get the chance:

- Janisse Ray, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, to page 38 (the first 5 chapters).

- David George Haskell. "Cottonwood." The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors. Penguin, 2018. Pages 163-188. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/cottonwood_haskell.pdf

- Courtney Desiree Morris. "Acid Church: A queer psychedelic ramble through the Crescent City." Stranger's Guide, May 2022.

strangersguide.com/articles/queer-psychedelic-new-orleans/

- Amy Wright. "Prey." The Kenyon Review, Mar/ Apr 2020. kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2020-marapr/selections/amy-wright-656342/

Week 2 -- Thurs Jan 29

Due: Draft of "Write about a Place" due. Bring 3 copies for a writing workshop.

Finish reading Ecology of a Cracker Childhood.

On Weds Jan 28, btwn 10am and 10pm, reserve your free tix for John Green at the Martin center website: www.etsu.edu/martin-center/events-tickets/series.php

Week 3 -- Thurs Feb 5

Due: Revised version of "Write about a Place."

Read Ron Rash's novel, Serena, parts I and II (to page 210).

Read Jeremy B. Jones, excerpt--chaps. 37-41 of Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor's Scandalous Secret Diaries. Blair, 2025. Pages 204-234. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/cipher_excerpt.pdf

Week 4 -- Thurs Feb 12

Due: Reading response 1.

Finish Serena.

Also read these two book reviews:

- "Couple Creates an Empire by Felling Trees and Anyone in Their Way" [review of Serena]. By Janet Maslin, The New York Times, October 5, 2008. www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06masl.html. (Click here for a cached version.) 

- "Review -- Serena by Ron Rash: Jay Parini is impressed by a bloodthirsty tale of greed and the ruthless pursuit of power." The Guardian [Manchester, UK], October 9, 2009. www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/10/serena-ron-rash-review

Three Emerging Writers, including Jeremy B. Jones, author of Cipher.

Mon Feb 9 - Reece Museum

Roundtable Conversation: 1:40-3:00

Public Reading and Audience Q&A: 3:10-4:30

Week 5 -- Thurs Feb 19

Due: Draft of book review essay. Bring 3 copies for a writing workshop.

Read John Green's Everything is Tuberculosis through chapter 10 (to page 98).

Week 6 -- Thurs Feb 26

Due: Reading response 2.

Finish Everything is Tuberculosis.

Bring Bill McKibben's The End of Nature to class.

Also read McKibben's "Introduction" to Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization. Norton, 2025. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/intro_here_comes_the_sun.pdf

John Green, Thurs Feb 26, 7pm

Martin Center, Foundation Grand Hall

Week 7 -- Thurs March 5

Due: Revised version of book review essay.

Read Bill McKibben's The End of Nature.

Week 8 -- Thurs March 12

Due: Reading response 3.

Read at least the first 6 chapters of Barbara Kingsolver's novel Flight Behavior (through page 154).

SPRING BREAK -- March 16-20

Week 9 -- Thurs March 26

Due: Reading response 4.

Finish Flight Behavior.

Read chapters 1, 2, and 8 (pages 1-40 and 187-216) of Ecocriticism by Greg Garrard.

Week 10 -- Thurs Apr 2

Read the rest of Ecocriticism.

Also read my article, "Wallace Stevens' 'Anecdote of the Jar': Modernist Poetics and the Industrial Logging of the Great Appalachian Forest," in Appalachian Ecocriticism and the Paradox of Place, ed. by Jessica Cory and Laura Wright. University of Georgia Press, 2023. Pages 241-252. faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/kod_on_wallace_stevens.pdf

Bring Thoreau's Walden to class.

Week 11 -- Thurs Apr 9

Due: Reading response 5.

Read Walden.

Read Kathryn Schulz, "Pond Scum: The Moral Judgments of Henry David Thoreau," in The New Yorker, October 12, 2015. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum - faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/schulz_on_thoreau_newyorker.pdf

Week 12 -- Thurs Apr 16

Due: Draft of seminar paper.

Read Bewilderement, by Richard Powers.

Read a Ron Rash story that I will pass out.

Week 13 -- Thurs Apr 23

Read Parable of the Sower, the novel by Octavia Butler.

Tues Apr 21 - Weds Apr 22:

ETSU Spring Lit Festival

Ron Rash will appear. Stay tuned for schedule info.

Week 14 -- Thurs Apr 30

Due: Revised version of seminar paper.

Due: In-class presentation of seminar paper.