American Literature Since 1945 · English And Comparative Literature
About a book a week of reading (sometimes poems instead) 1 4-5 page midterm 1 5-6 page midterm 1 2 page final
Similar for both Brit Lit and American Lit since 1945 - two papers usually (5-7 pages each), lots of readings and films, and occasional online postings. Totally reasonable, especially when the books are so great.
As someone who is fascinated by post-Modern lit, I found this class to be a godsend. But, even without a particular interest in the period, something to consider is that every author on the reading list (Pynchon, Didion, Morrison, Bellow, and Nabokov, etc) shaped the contemporary American literary canon in innumerable ways, and, as a result, will be discussed in most other Lit classes. With that in mind, I would recommend this course to anyone remotely interested in a full immersion into the American social and literary climate of the post-war era, enjoying some of the most iconic works in recent history, and generally becoming a more educated person. Professor Miller is priceless, pure and simple. Why she is not a "gold nugget" professor, I have no idea. Her ability to integrate the works into the social framework of the era, facilitate her students immersion into the text and develop a passion for it is something that is incredibly rare to find in English professors both at Barnard and Columbia. Additionally, she makes the themes of the literary movements pertinent to today by discussing the legacy of each work in literary and pop culture today. Also, she is genuinely one of those professors that inspires exploration of the works as they pertain to other fields and other artistic mediums. She also adds spice to lecture by adding a rare witty personal anecdote that actually s…
One of the best classes I have taken in my four years. Professor Vandenburg is a great professor, seamlessly weaving in philosophy, psychology, and history into our discussions of literature, and making those topics accessible to her students. Most impressively, she is unfailingly kind. She is never condescending to her students and always generous in her discussion leadership. I would take this class again if I could.
It's completely understandable why Spiegel gets a wide spectrum of reviews. She is a very smart woman, and cares greatly about both literature and her students, but her teaching style can be frustrating. While her classes are billed as lectures, she attempts to conduct them like seminars, which generally results in the same talkative people (often auditors) making inane and arbitrary comments. To Spiegel's credit, she can generally work these comments into her larger scheme for the class, and isn't hesitant to tell you when she disagrees with you. Her "lectures" are pretty disorganized, but this seems a product of her syllabi. The books she chooses are fantastic, and are not canonical works with years of previous scholarship, so she seems genuinely to be grappling with the texts, and expects her students to do the same. She is kind of spacey - for Brit Lit, we didn't receive our first papers back until a few weeks before the next paper was due, and didn't receieve our final grades until the next semester - but she is a fair grader and is eager to meet with you about the class or your papers. She is also open to rewrites, which can be key in a two paper course.
Fair for an English course. 2 papers, online postings, and a final exam. Course assignments are graded by a TA and Professor Miller.
Approximately a novel a week. 2 6-8pp papers. 1 final (easy ID's with lots of analysis and one essay question she hands out beforehand)
Am Lit: 2 papers (lengths vary)and a take-home midterm.Am Film Genres: 2 papers (lengths vary) and a final exam.
Professor Miller is one of the best professors of English at this university. Her passion for the subject is evident with each lecture; her deep knowledge of the texts is clear by each of her articulate discourses. Outside of class, Professor Miller is always willing to meet with students, either to discuss course-related subjects or other, more general, topics. I highly recommend her lecture(s) and seminars. The course material she selects for each course are interesting and engaging; the assignments are fair and provide ground for further development of text-interpretation or creative space for deep analysis. They are definitely courses worth taking--with a great professor.
As an English major, this was a class I definitely don't regret taking. That being said, I don't think I will ever take a class with Professor Vandenburg again. While I learned a lot about literary theory and the reading list is extraordinary, Professor Vandenburg is too set on a specific way of analyzing texts, to the extent that her analysis can become repetitive and--to some members of the class--slightly ridiculous. For instance, I heard a number of people outside of class criticize how she looks at everything from a Lacanian, poststructuralist or Freudian perspective. Don't get me wrong, Professor Vandenburg is clearly brilliant and knows what she's talking about, but sometimes it felt like every single text on the syllabus was exactly the same. One of my biggest qualms with the class was that Professor Vandenburg doesn't lecture a lot and instead relies on people's comments to conduct the class. This often led to a very dynamic class. However, sometimes, members of the class would feel the need to discuss the texts using Vandenburg's terms and ideas, and most of the time, they would have no idea of what they were talking about. So, in conclusion, yes, you should take this class, as Professor Vandenburg is extremely smart, the texts are fantastic and the lectures/discussions are often engaging and interesting. However, realize that Professor Vandenburg's perspective is no…