Category: american literature

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Archives and Collaborative Documents in the Literature Classroom

Last Tuesday, I wrote about some of the ways I have been implementing technology into my composition and literature classrooms. Today, I want to speak about a couple of more ways that I am incorporating the Internet and Web 2.0 tools into the literature classroom.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Slavery

Upon reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minster’s Black Veil” (1832), I began to think about the underlying cultural contexts surrounding the story’s initial publication. Namely, I started to think about it in relation to the issue of slavery and the abolitionist movement. While African or African American characters nor slavery appear in the story, the thematic elements lead me to consider Hawthorne’s story in relation … Read More Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Slavery

A Different View of Jonathan Edwards

Typically, students’ exposure to Jonathan Edwards begins and ends with his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741). By limiting what students read from Edwards, we create an image in our students’ minds, as we do with any author we teach, specifically in a literary surgery course, that portrays the eighteenth century theologian as nothing more that a Calvinist preacher who … Read More A Different View of Jonathan Edwards

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Colin Kaepernick, the National Anthem, and Progress?

Over the past few weeks, I have seen numerous responses to Colin Kaepernick’s demonstrations during the National Anthem. Last week, an article even appeared on ESPN pointing out which players chose to demonstrate during the anthem in week three of the NFL season by kneeling, raising their fists in protest, or through some other means. Editorials and opinion pieces have appeared in various media … Read More Colin Kaepernick, the National Anthem, and Progress?

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Sarah Kemble Knight and Calls for a Distinctly American Literature

During our discussion of Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journal, I asked students to think about a broad topic regarding the first publication of Knight’s text in 1825 in relation to calls for a distinctly American literature during the early part of the nineteenth century. I have written about this before in regards to the turn towards Native American characters and more specifically King Phillip; however, … Read More Sarah Kemble Knight and Calls for a Distinctly American Literature