The following is an addendum to the syllabus, a course schedule that will give you a rough idea of how we’ll proceed with major due dates for papers and, generally, our reading schedule. However, please be aware, this schedule is tentative and will be changed. So always refer to the blog or your notes from class with respect to specific due dates and reading assignments. Click English 2100 Fall Schedule 1 for the Course Schedule.

For those of you who want to get a running start on the reading for Thursday, please go to this link.

You will find there an article in The Atlantic, one of the more important and prominent national magazines, by Ta-Nehisi Coates that examines some of the issues we’ve been discussing in class. This essay advances an argument, and so you’ll want to follow that argument carefully, tracing the steps in its development and assessing the evidence marshaled in support of it.

Hello everyone,

For next Wednesday you’ll need to have done the following:

1) Come up with three ideas for your creative non-fiction essay;

2) Read the Paul Beatty excerpt from his recent novel, The Sellout.

3) Write a response in which you examine the similarities and contrasts between Beatty’s work and Richard Wright”s. This response should look at what the two excerpts say, their tone, the authors’ differing styles, and the language elements (rhetoric and tropes) they employ.

Here is the excerpt from The Sellout: The Sellout excerpt1

Have a great Labor Day weekend. See you Wednesday.

Professor Vilbig

Hi all,

You should be able to download the pdf by clicking on the following:  Richard Wright excerpt 1. I had to reduce the file size to upload it to the site so if you look at this magnified it might be fuzzy. Reduce the text size to avoid that.

Please read with real care. Focus on the depiction of racism—and its effets on Richard. Some specific focus points:

Richard and the landlady’s daughter

The Shorty scene

the encounter with the man from “up north”

Harrison and Richard fight: what does it say about the power of racism to shape personal reactions, about the possibility of escaping its omnipresence?

No need to write your responses. Just be ready to have an enlightened conversation on Wednesday.

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