A friend of mine who was TA’ing for an AmLit course found a copy of Moby Dick a student had left behind. It had only one marginal annotation, around page 100, that simply said “whale is important.”
Love the glimpse into the beautiful mind that notated this used copy of Moby Dick I got
May 25, 2026 at 1:16 AM
A friend of mine who was TA’ing for an AmLit course found a copy of Moby Dick a student had left behind. It had only one marginal annotation, around page 100, that simply said “whale is important.”
Part of why I avoid current AmLit is this
December 7, 2024 at 8:17 PM
Part of why I avoid current AmLit is this
AmLit essay writing guides states that all students should include their cetaceans..
May 25, 2026 at 7:40 AM
AmLit essay writing guides states that all students should include their cetaceans..
My AmLit prof in the 90s called this phenomenon “Big Nurse” after Ratched in Cuckoo’s. The free, unfettered, ideal American man is always at danger of being castrated (fig & lit) by a woman. Man’s natural mode is wild, and women want to civilize & thereby destroy him.
June 7, 2026 at 9:36 PM
My AmLit prof in the 90s called this phenomenon “Big Nurse” after Ratched in Cuckoo’s. The free, unfettered, ideal American man is always at danger of being castrated (fig & lit) by a woman. Man’s natural mode is wild, and women want to civilize & thereby destroy him.
At the end of 3 weeks in my AmLit survey, I have perfect attendance.
It’s one class, with a dozen students, so anecdotal at best. But a shocking departure from the norm since 2020.
Combined with pretty strong attendance in my other classes, it has been a strong source of much-needed hope.
It’s one class, with a dozen students, so anecdotal at best. But a shocking departure from the norm since 2020.
Combined with pretty strong attendance in my other classes, it has been a strong source of much-needed hope.
September 19, 2025 at 2:24 PM
At the end of 3 weeks in my AmLit survey, I have perfect attendance.
It’s one class, with a dozen students, so anecdotal at best. But a shocking departure from the norm since 2020.
Combined with pretty strong attendance in my other classes, it has been a strong source of much-needed hope.
It’s one class, with a dozen students, so anecdotal at best. But a shocking departure from the norm since 2020.
Combined with pretty strong attendance in my other classes, it has been a strong source of much-needed hope.
my fave Moby Dick moment in college was not in my AmLit class but in Clown class. we were playing "be an expert at smthng" and one kid said "I know the first line to every book ever written" and ofc we said "Moby Dick" and he took a deep breath and hit us with "So there's this whale..."
May 25, 2026 at 1:53 AM
my fave Moby Dick moment in college was not in my AmLit class but in Clown class. we were playing "be an expert at smthng" and one kid said "I know the first line to every book ever written" and ofc we said "Moby Dick" and he took a deep breath and hit us with "So there's this whale..."
Speaking of being a fuckin’ AmLit nerd this arrived today:
August 27, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Speaking of being a fuckin’ AmLit nerd this arrived today:
If you want only students who won’t use AI, get rid of requirements for people to find a class to fill their credit-hour requirements even if they don’t want to take it. If some AmLit student doesn’t want to take English Lit for some reason, don’t make them.
June 20, 2025 at 7:07 AM
If you want only students who won’t use AI, get rid of requirements for people to find a class to fill their credit-hour requirements even if they don’t want to take it. If some AmLit student doesn’t want to take English Lit for some reason, don’t make them.
Out today!! Read it here first, free!!
#writingcommunity #AmLit #essay #commentary
www.danwoodswriter.com/essays/ergod...
#writingcommunity #AmLit #essay #commentary
www.danwoodswriter.com/essays/ergod...
Neo-Americana Literature Movement: Ergodic Theory and Historical Fiction — Daniel Woods - Writer
Neo-Americana literature combines ergodic theory with historical documentation to create revolutionary American fiction. Discover this emerging literary movement.
www.danwoodswriter.com
July 4, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Out today!! Read it here first, free!!
#writingcommunity #AmLit #essay #commentary
www.danwoodswriter.com/essays/ergod...
#writingcommunity #AmLit #essay #commentary
www.danwoodswriter.com/essays/ergod...
Most recent addition to the AmLit Big Board. #literature #beatgeneration #englishteaching #englishteacher #poetry #beatpoetry #ontheroad #howl #allenginsberg #kerouac #dianediprima #dharmabums @citylightsbooks.bsky.social #booksky
April 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Most recent addition to the AmLit Big Board. #literature #beatgeneration #englishteaching #englishteacher #poetry #beatpoetry #ontheroad #howl #allenginsberg #kerouac #dianediprima #dharmabums @citylightsbooks.bsky.social #booksky
When you randomly check if there are first editions you can afford by your favorite #19c author and end up submitting an offer 😬
#AmLit #AALit #CharlesChesnutt #AcademicSky
#AmLit #AALit #CharlesChesnutt #AcademicSky
August 9, 2025 at 2:32 AM
When you randomly check if there are first editions you can afford by your favorite #19c author and end up submitting an offer 😬
#AmLit #AALit #CharlesChesnutt #AcademicSky
#AmLit #AALit #CharlesChesnutt #AcademicSky
grateful to have been able to experience, as a teen, Kurt Vonnegut as a living author, releasing a new book the exact year I first encountered him in high school AmLit class
June 26, 2026 at 2:12 AM
grateful to have been able to experience, as a teen, Kurt Vonnegut as a living author, releasing a new book the exact year I first encountered him in high school AmLit class
Needed to do a little bit of positivity printing today - dropped a few in the store: hotbrownpress.etsy.com/listing/4443...
#c19 #AmericanLit #Thoreau #Walden #AmLit #19c #letterpress #printmaking
#c19 #AmericanLit #Thoreau #Walden #AmLit #19c #letterpress #printmaking
January 19, 2026 at 12:44 AM
Needed to do a little bit of positivity printing today - dropped a few in the store: hotbrownpress.etsy.com/listing/4443...
#c19 #AmericanLit #Thoreau #Walden #AmLit #19c #letterpress #printmaking
#c19 #AmericanLit #Thoreau #Walden #AmLit #19c #letterpress #printmaking
In AmLit we’re studying legacy and the way people who have immigrated to America engage with cultural heritage and memory. We read @markdoesstuff.bsky.social’s ‘No Me Dejas’ and my students, who’ve read a hundred different texts this year, were INVOLVED. Teach it! slate.com/technology/2...
January 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
In AmLit we’re studying legacy and the way people who have immigrated to America engage with cultural heritage and memory. We read @markdoesstuff.bsky.social’s ‘No Me Dejas’ and my students, who’ve read a hundred different texts this year, were INVOLVED. Teach it! slate.com/technology/2...
once I got tenure, I started teaching at least one trans text in every class — Chris Looby’s work is super helpful for this in pre-20thC AmLit contexts
In the past 2 years the word transgender was made verboten at universities in many US states, with scores of academics having lost their jobs and whole departments being shuttered for having harbored the wrong sorts of thought.
Yes, I support academic freedom for racism, eugenics, Maoism, a belief in violence for its own sake, Murder Jason Lee Byas Thought, support for ISIS, support for total human extinction, and whatever else you have in mind.
"Academic freedom but just for good people" is not a practicable principle.
"Academic freedom but just for good people" is not a practicable principle.
August 23, 2026 at 4:16 PM
once I got tenure, I started teaching at least one trans text in every class — Chris Looby’s work is super helpful for this in pre-20thC AmLit contexts
Hey #DigitalHumanities and #AmLit folks! @recoveryhubaww.bsky.social is offering free summer workshops to support DH projects that center the work of (global) American (trans-/queer-inclusive) women writers. If that sounds like you, register here! recoveryhub.siue.edu/2025/05/14/s...
This Wed., May 28 at 12 noon Central, join us for our first Tech Hour, "Getting Started with Digital Humanities." This free Zoom session will explore early steps for beginning a digital humanities project. Register and get the Zoom link: recoveryhub.siue.edu/2025/05/14/s... #academicsky
May 27, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Hey #DigitalHumanities and #AmLit folks! @recoveryhubaww.bsky.social is offering free summer workshops to support DH projects that center the work of (global) American (trans-/queer-inclusive) women writers. If that sounds like you, register here! recoveryhub.siue.edu/2025/05/14/s...
Teaching an AmLit survey is like this.
For months you describe clean breaks between aesthetic categories until a student asks, “Aren’t like 90% of narratives in all media still romantic?”
And you whisper “Yes.” Put down the chalk. Walk out of the classroom.
And into the sea.
For months you describe clean breaks between aesthetic categories until a student asks, “Aren’t like 90% of narratives in all media still romantic?”
And you whisper “Yes.” Put down the chalk. Walk out of the classroom.
And into the sea.
August 3, 2024 at 8:16 PM
Teaching an AmLit survey is like this.
For months you describe clean breaks between aesthetic categories until a student asks, “Aren’t like 90% of narratives in all media still romantic?”
And you whisper “Yes.” Put down the chalk. Walk out of the classroom.
And into the sea.
For months you describe clean breaks between aesthetic categories until a student asks, “Aren’t like 90% of narratives in all media still romantic?”
And you whisper “Yes.” Put down the chalk. Walk out of the classroom.
And into the sea.
Prof of AmLit & Twain studies!
July 10, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Prof of AmLit & Twain studies!
We don’t celebrate or mythologise working class, blue collar lives. Fantasies about elite living are everywhere.
#books #literature #amlit #novel
#books #literature #amlit #novel
August 6, 2026 at 12:36 AM
We don’t celebrate or mythologise working class, blue collar lives. Fantasies about elite living are everywhere.
#books #literature #amlit #novel
#books #literature #amlit #novel
Composition (3 sections): present research to community members
AmLit (2 sections): analyze entire poetry collections & create podcast, video, or graphic essays in convo w/A. Lorde and J. Jordan
AP Lit (1 section): curate a collection of texts that answers the question “who am I now?”
2/3
AmLit (2 sections): analyze entire poetry collections & create podcast, video, or graphic essays in convo w/A. Lorde and J. Jordan
AP Lit (1 section): curate a collection of texts that answers the question “who am I now?”
2/3
May 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Composition (3 sections): present research to community members
AmLit (2 sections): analyze entire poetry collections & create podcast, video, or graphic essays in convo w/A. Lorde and J. Jordan
AP Lit (1 section): curate a collection of texts that answers the question “who am I now?”
2/3
AmLit (2 sections): analyze entire poetry collections & create podcast, video, or graphic essays in convo w/A. Lorde and J. Jordan
AP Lit (1 section): curate a collection of texts that answers the question “who am I now?”
2/3
Tomorrow, my AmLit students and I embark on the final leg of our journey together. We’ll discuss Lorde and June Jordon, and they’ll study & analyze one entire collection by one of the listed poets. A question I ask: if poetry is not a luxury, what are these poems?
April 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Tomorrow, my AmLit students and I embark on the final leg of our journey together. We’ll discuss Lorde and June Jordon, and they’ll study & analyze one entire collection by one of the listed poets. A question I ask: if poetry is not a luxury, what are these poems?
I did a play on this with my juniors when we started AmLit: what qualifies an author as “American”? And can something be “American literature” if it’s not in English?
This makes me think of a slightly different question.
If were teaching a course as literature of the continents, what book would you choose to represent each?
Africa
Asia
Australia
Turtle Island (North…America?)
South…America?
(Any lit from Antartica?)
If were teaching a course as literature of the continents, what book would you choose to represent each?
Africa
Asia
Australia
Turtle Island (North…America?)
South…America?
(Any lit from Antartica?)
Any ELA teachers have favorite texts for a World Lit class? I have ideas but am always looking for better ones. This will be my first time teaching this course in 25 years. #EduSky
December 1, 2024 at 1:07 AM
I did a play on this with my juniors when we started AmLit: what qualifies an author as “American”? And can something be “American literature” if it’s not in English?
Hahaha, just found these babies sleeping in my bed. Spider-Man looks all set, but I think my daughter’s child might be a character from an Edith Wharton novel. I worry for her.
#booksky #AcademicSky #wgs #AmLit #C19
#booksky #AcademicSky #wgs #AmLit #C19
February 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Hahaha, just found these babies sleeping in my bed. Spider-Man looks all set, but I think my daughter’s child might be a character from an Edith Wharton novel. I worry for her.
#booksky #AcademicSky #wgs #AmLit #C19
#booksky #AcademicSky #wgs #AmLit #C19
Finally trying out this wild yonder thing. Thanks to @ryancordell.bsky.social for getting me here! Looking for #bookhistory, #amlit, other academic & culture-enjoying types. (I'm assuming hashtags are a thing here?)
October 4, 2023 at 2:06 AM
Finally trying out this wild yonder thing. Thanks to @ryancordell.bsky.social for getting me here! Looking for #bookhistory, #amlit, other academic & culture-enjoying types. (I'm assuming hashtags are a thing here?)
My professor of AmLit told me he should get a gun and shoot me when he found out I was a physics major.
The humanities psycho is deranged, but has little power to act on his ambitions. Give him knowledge of science and engineering, and he acquires that power.
The STEM psycho is deranged, but has little ambition to guide his power. Give him knowledge of the humanities, and he acquires that ambition
The STEM psycho is deranged, but has little ambition to guide his power. Give him knowledge of the humanities, and he acquires that ambition
April 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
My professor of AmLit told me he should get a gun and shoot me when he found out I was a physics major.