Major Literary Works since 1800 · French
three papers of reasonable length (two 4-page papers and one 5-page paper); midterm (7 IDs); final (IDs plus a short essay); participation/attendance grade.
Reading workload varies from week to week depending on the texts, so anywhere from 30-500 pages a week. Weekly "reactions" (1 page max); 2 longer papers (4-5 pages with optional first draft); midterm and take-home final (several questions, chose 2 to answer). Syllabus was coordinated with the other section at the beginning of the semester, but by the end we were on totally different schedules.
Answer a few questions over the readings for each class, one midterm, 2 analysis essays and a final.
I don't know. Helgeson clearly knows a lot, which is always handy I won't lie, but that does not mean he's a great professor. At least not in this class. It's not his specialty and I got the sense he was just fulfilling departmental duties while teaching it. Since it is an introduction to French literature since 1800, I expect not to be coddled per se, but logically directed through the important points of the texts. This did not happen. It was more like sit down, shut up, and wait while Helgeson seems to talk to himself about the odds and ends he has picked up about modern literature over the years. I think this sort of approach fosters a class where doing the reading is secondary. Wait, it did foster that class. Almost everyone showed up and talked about how much they didn't read before Helgeson walked through the door. I also never learned anything solid, like when I sat down to do the final I didn't know what I was expected to show that I had mastered. Very frustrating. In the end though, if you don't care about how you get through this survey course, then I guess he would be fine to take it with, but he's too lenient and nonchalant for my taste.
Normal. 2 papers, where you need to think but not to sweat, midterm and final, ditto. Do the reading, or sometimes be lax, if you participate in class you'll be fine.
What a fantastic professor! So enthusiastic and great at running discussions. His passion for the literature really shows in his teaching. His grading standards were clear and very reasonable; he is very approachable and also reasonable as a person, unlike some other professors in the French department. In fact, his Americanism might be the deciding factor - he lacks the attitude and capriciousness of some of the native French speakers. His syllabus was carefully selected and synthesized and class was always interesting; his knowledge and enthusiasm encouraged everyone's participation. HIGHLY recommended!!! I had a great semester with Watts and it really cemented my decision to major in French.
I took this class as a major requirement. My French was rusty, and I had an absolute loathing of literature classes acquired from several very unfortunate English classes both here and in high school. Luckily, thanks to Prof. Martin, at the end of the semester my French was much improved (both oral and written), and I had a newfound respect for lit classes. Prof. Martin tried to present all of the works in their historical context. She showed slides, and tried to show the connections between different authors and their historical periods. The class was small and usually started out as a lecture and morphed into a discussion, but she didn't have a problem turning it back into a lecture if we didn't have anything to add (for whatever reason). She was very engaging, and I think everyone felt she was very fair. Prof. Martin is very sweet and sympathetic and interested in/conscious of her students as human beings. She requested but didn't require first drafts for papers and gave lots of comments, so there was really no excuse for doing poorly. Paper topics were open-ended (which actually made it harder since there was so much choice). My main critique is the syllabus, but it was coordinated with the other section (at least at the beginning of the semester), so I don't know how much individual control she had over it. We probably would have been better off reading excerpts for some…
She is such a wonderful woman ! Séverine truly loves literature and she shares this love in her lectures. She brings texts to life, she is happy and passionate. We studied main authors such as Montesquieu, Balzac and Baudelaire. Sometimes the readings were heavy, especially on Proust, but overall the course load was manageable. The midterm was pretty straight forward and she had given the class a review list which was extremely helpful. Séverine enabled us to express our own opinions on literature instead of just recycling well-known ideas. This was a revisitation of texts for many of the students rather than a discovery. Her class was like a journey through literature and what a super guide she was ! The course is given in French. This is by far, the best French literature class you'll take at Columbia.
Two easy papers, they can be text analysis. A midterm and a final. Our final was takehome: a few IDs, a text analysis, and an essay.
Although we all know that the Columbia administration is oft-times off-base when handing out accolades, it merits being mentioned that Priya was the 2002-2003 recipient of the Graduate Student Teachers Award . And I can say this confidently because I know I wasn't the only person from our section who nominated her. Priya is amazing. You'll notice we all call her by her first name, and that's not mock-friendship, but a true indication of the role she assumes as your instructor. Her kindness is unparalleled in the faculty of this institution, and she won that award because she truly is an example of what a teacher should be. Not only a friend to her students, Priya forces you to learn a lot too. I don't think many of us could have felt prouder the day we read-and understood- Proust in French. To get a handful of scared undergraduates to tackle even the very beginning of such an opus is astounding, and I am so happy that Columbia has finally recognized Priya, because we, her students, sure know she deserves it.