Engl 3040 Literary Nonfiction, Fall 2025

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[ Policies ] [ Calendar ] [ Online Readings ]

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Policies
last update: August 20, 2025

Course and Instructor
English 3040 Literary Nonfiction, MWF 11:40am-12:35pm in Gilbreath Hall, 313. 

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

Office: Burleson Hall 214. Office hours: MWF 12:45-2:45pm, on even numbered weeks (for example, week 2 of the semester is Sep 1-5; week 4 is sept 15-19; etc). Email me for appointments at other times.

Texts

- Truman Capote. In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences. Knopf Doubleday, 1994 (1965). ISBN: 978-0679745587 $16.95 

- Joan Didion. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008 (1968). ISBN: 978-0374531386 $17.00

- Frederick Douglass. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.  Penguin, 2014 (1845).  978-0143107309 $13.00

- John Green. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet. Penguin, 2021. 978-0525555247 $20

- Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed editions, 2015. ISBN: 978-1571313560 $20

- Art Spiegelman. Maus: A Survivor's Tale ("The Complete Maus," Books 1 and 2). Pantheon, 1996 (1986). ISBN: 978-0679406419 $35.00 

- Cheryl Strayed. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Vintage, 2013 (2012). ISBN: 978-0307476074 $18.00

- David Foster Wallace. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments. Back Bay Books, 1998 (1997). ISBN: 978-0316925280 $18.99 

Assignment Overview/ Final Grade Breakdown

- Book Review Essay, which you will write about one of the books that we read for class (3-5 pages; or 750-1,250-words) -- 20%

- Literary Nonfiction, in the mode of your choice (4-8 pages; or 1-2,000 words) -- 25% 

- YouTube Podcast, an audio recording of your original nonfiction, around 5 to 10 minutes running time, which you will post to youtube -- 20%

- 3 D2L Discussions -- 15% total (5% for each one)

- final exam -- 20%

Learning Objectives

This course aims to enhance students’ reading, writing, and critical thinking skills while fostering an appreciation for the power of nonfiction writing. In particular, students taking this course will learn to:

- Recognize and understand literary nonfiction and its various subgenres, including memoir, essay, biography, and journalism.

- Learn the history of the essay, specifically, as a literary form; and learn about the evolution of literary nonfiction in the twentieth and twenty-first century America, including, in particular, the literary movement known as "New Journalism"

- Engage with major themes in literary nonfiction, such as truth, identity, memory, and the relationship between fact, fiction, and nonfiction.

- Develop writing skills through the creation of original literary nonfiction pieces, incorporating techniques learned throughout the course.

Statement about Artificial Intelligence

AI is a powerful tool, and you will likely use it in future endeavors to produce various kinds of texts. Nevertheless, for this class, I highly recommend that you do NOT use AI for brainstorming, outlining, composing, or revising.

That's because using AI instead of performing these tasks on your own can rewire your brain in a way that incapacitates you. Yes, the stakes are that high. We'll read some of the supporting evidence for this assertion, in class this semester. The use of AI can absolutely defeat the entire purpose of taking a class like Literary Nonfiction. Do not surrender your precious brain capacity to anonymous digital overlords. Resist!

On the other hand, I do believe that using AI as a kind of writing assistant is harmless and indeed can be quite helpful. We will discuss AI's implications for writing at some length this semester, and you will use chatgpt for at least one assignment. However, as I say, I recommend that you avoid using AI in place of doing the substantial brain work required by writing.

The class policy regarding AI is full transparency: You will write 3 essays this semester (counting the podcast script). Each time you submit an essay, you will write a cover memo, telling me about your experience writing that essay. In that memo, you will likewise tell me whether and how you used AI in producing that piece of writing.

I do not have any desire to be the AI police. Nor do I have any fool-proof way of detecting your AI use. However, if I do detect that you have used it to produce an assignment without disclosing that fact, then your score for that assignment will be zero.