English 211: Literature and Place, or "Literary Nebraska", our first online literary studies course about Nebraska’s literary history and culture from its earliest days to the present.
Writers and scholars provide a broad historical survey that examines:
- the works of some of the state’s most famous authors such as Willa Cather and Ted Kooser
- key voices such as Black Elk (with John Neihardt), Mari Sandoz, and Malcolm X
- contemporary writing from faculty such as Jennine Capó Crucet, Jonis Agee, and Kwame Dawes
Admitted UNL students via MyRed Nebraska Now high school students
Week 1
“Nebraskan Realisms: Life and Fiction, Document and Invention”
Guy Reynolds introduces Literary Nebraska.
Unit 1: Nebraska Lives (Autobiography)
Week 2
Acclaimed author John Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks is the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk and his people during the early years of the nineteenth century.
Presented by
Matt Cohen and Tom Gannon
Week 3
Loren Eiseley, a native of Lincoln, became internationally recognized as one of the most influential nature writers of the 20th century.
Presented by
Tom Lynch
Week 4
Malcolm Little, Malcolm X, El-Hajj, Malik El-Shabazz - just who was this man from Omaha who made several life transitions across lines of family and politics, activism, and religion?
Presented by
Kwakiutl Dreher
Week 5
Tillie Olsen was an internationally prominent writer revered by many women who were trying to develop women’s studies and research on women in the early 20th century.
Presented by
Linda Pratt
Week 6
Jennine Capó Crucet is a Cuban American novelist, professor, and contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Her essays cover her predominantly Cuban-American hometown of Hialeah, Florida.
Presented by
Joy Castro
Unit 2: Nebraska Stories (Fiction)
Week 7
Willa Cather was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and an alumna renowned for her work—which includes her complicated relationship with Nebraska.
Presented by
Melissa Homestead
Week 8
On Newberry Award-winning author Mari Sandoz and her 1960 novel, Son of the Gamblin’ Man, the story of John J. Cozad—founder of the namesake city—and his son, artist Robert Henri.
Presented by
Laura White
Week 9
The legacy of Ervin Krause's work. In 1963, his short story “Anniversary” was deemed obscene and denied publication in The Prairie Schooner.
Presented by
Tim Schaffert
Week 10
How does Jonis Agee’s novel Strange Angels fit in the context of her decorated career and education, and how did her Midwestern roots influence her work?
Presented by
Rachel Cochran
Unit 3: Nebraska Poems
Week 11
Orsamus Charles Dake, Nebraska’s first published poet, was one of the first five faculty members at the University of Nebraska in 1871. How faith, politics, and tragedy influenced his work.
Presented by
Steve Behrendt
Week 12
How William Kloefkorn, Twyla Hanson, and now Matt Mason have impacted the role of State Poet.
Presented by
Robert Brooke
Week 13
Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser is known for his conversational style of poetry.
Presented by
Kwame Dawes
Week 14
Explore the work of poets and emeriti professors Hilda Raz and Grace Bauer and its impact on the faculty and students of the university.
Presented by
Hope Wabuke
Unit 4: Nebraska in Popular Culture
Week 15
Discover the innovative, creative work of graphic novelist Chris Ware of Omaha, Nebraska who has been featured in the Whitney Museum, PBS, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Esquire, and The Prairie Schooner.
Presented by
Richard Graham