[This week marks the start of the Fall semester, and my 22nd year at Fitchburg State. So as usual, a semester previews blog series to go with it, leading up to a special post on some of my latest scholarly projects!]
When I wrote about this section of our English Studies Senior Capstone course back in May, I noted that I hadn’t yet decided on the contemporary literary text that we’d be reading. Since then I have made my decision: we’ll be checking out Percival Everett’s masterpiece James (2024)! (I don’t imagine we’ll be able to get in touch with Everett to share student questions and get responses, as was the case with the other authors I mentioned in that prior post, but you can bet that I’m still gonna try!) I’m excited to share this great novel with these senior English Studies majors for lots of reasons, but at the top of the list is this: this is the kind of book that reminds us why we do what we do, and why art and culture matter so much. Those are conversations I try to have with Capstone students throughout the semester, and I love that one of our main readings will offer such an excellent way into them.
Next preview tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What’s coming up with y’all?
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