Engl 5750 Seminar in American Lit: Environmental Writing, O'Donnell, ETSU, Spring 2026

Policies
last update: January 8, 2026

Course and Instructor
- English 5750 Seminar in American Lit: Environmental Writing, Thurs 4-6:50pm in Warf Pickel Hall, Room 517

- Dr. Kevin O'Donnell, instructor; odonnell@etsu.edu faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/

- Office Hours: Tuesdays 10-11:30am; Wednesdays 10am-12pm; Thursdays 1:45-3:45pm

Assignment Overview/ Final Grade Breakdown

- Write about a Place -- 1,000-1,500 words: 20%

- Book Review Essay -- 1,000-1,500 words: 20%

- 5 reading responses -- each around 500 words: 20% (4 points each)

- Seminar paper/ 20-minute conference presentation: 2,500-3,500 words: 40%

Texts (in chronological order of publication)

- Henry David Thoreau. Walden and Civil Disobedience. Penguin, 1983 (1854). 978-0140390445. $14.00

- Bill McKibben. The End of Nature (with a New Introduction by the Author). Random House, 2006 (1989). 978-0812976083. $18.00

- Octavia Butler. Parable of the Sower. Grand Central Publishing, 2019 (1993). 978-1538732182. $19.99

- Janisse Ray. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood: 15th Anniversary Edition. Milkweed Editions, 2015 (1999). 978-1571313256. $16.00

- Barbara Kingsolver. Flight Behavior: A Novel. Harper, 2013. 978-0062124272. $19.99

- Ron Rash. Serena: A Novel. Ecco, 2015. 978-0062292667. $14.99

- Richard Powers. Bewilderment: A Novel. Norton, 2022. 978-1324036142. $17.95

- Greg Garrard. Ecocriticism (The New Critical Idiom), 3rd Edition. Routledge, 2023. 978-1032004020. $28.99

- John Green. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Penguin, 2025. ISBN: ‎ 978-0525556572. $28