Alfred Macadam

Prof. Macadam is a great professor. He is always available at office hours, to talk about the material or just art or life. His classes are very serious but still funny. The books that he chooses are great and I don't think I would be able to understand some of them without him in class.

This is an easy class: the essays are short, he (kind of) tells you what to write about, attendance is not mandatory, you don't really need to read the books if you don't want to (and if you do, they are short ish anyway), he can read your essay before you submit them. The class can get pretty dry sometimes (he's the only one that talks) but you can catch up with your other readings or just skip it if you're having a hard time concentrating (it happens). Amazing time!

This was my first comparative literature course here at Barnard and it met my expectations in terms of challenge and in how interdisciplinary it was. Professor MacAdam is incredibly erudite and has a very sarcastic whit. His lectures are informative but I feel like he spends too much time summing up the plots of the novellas. If you haven't read the words, then it's helpful but its repetitive if you have.

I have taken a few classes with Professor Mac Adam at this point, and so I think I have a good grasp on his teaching and grading style. When you're used to literature classes being discussion-like (with the first day of class being intros of everyone and classes regularly being 50% professor speaking and 50% student discussion), Mac Adam's style is jarring. When I got over this initial shock though, I realized so many advantages to this style. No, Mac Adam will not ask you your name and probably won't know it until later the midsemester point, but each class is genuinely so insightful that I eventually realized: whatever input I (or some other student) have will only take time away from the limited time that we have in the classroom. When I got over this (at first ego-bruising) realization, I could enjoy his classes for what they were: lectures on the decades-long meditations of an expert in his field. His knowledge ranges from biographical/historical to theoretical/critical, and he will absolutely throw in some nuggets of wisdom that will change the way you see things. Seriously. Mac Adam has met many of the great Latin American boom authors personally and has been writing on/thinking about the topics that he lectures on for decades. Is it really so bad if he doesn't structure his classes around student opinion? Anyway, I am graduating, so I won't be able to take any more cla…

As a SEAS student taking this class for Global Core requirement, I found the class enjoyable and extremely manageable. Though going to class is by all means not required, Professor MacAdam is a scholar in his field and has a lot to offer. While he does give a lot of background on the authors, he also gives a lot of good material to build your essays around. He is also extremely understanding in terms of helping students with ideas and granting the occasional extension. There are a lot of books to read but you can get by without reading them, as I found out as the course went on. In terms of global cores, this probably is one of the best routes to take if you're not looking for a lot of work. However, I would not say that this is an easy grade, and poor essays will receive poor grades.

I don't completely agree with the previous review of this course, nor do I completely disagree either. Prof. MacAdam is clearly an extremely well-versed literary scholar, and it's downright fascinating to see how he fluidly analyzes every aspect of each novella, linking the prose and their authors to other literary forms, art, history, and social understandings. The fact of the matter is that you never get the impression that this guy is BSing you--even if you can't see the connection he's making, you don't doubt that it's there. Or at least I certainly didn't. On the other hand, this is the first (and looking at my prospective schedule, most likely my last) English class of any sort that I've taken here, and I choose the class looking to get a bit of a break in between all of the sociology and urban studies and general "fact-iness" that I've been subjecting myself to recently. I was looking forward to an English class more reminiscent of those in my prep school days, where we sat around the Harkness table and discussed our thoughts and interpretations. Indeed, I couldn't really see how lecturing could really be an effective method for teaching literature at all (it certainly wasn't in the case of CC professor...); and at any rate, I figured that with it being a Comp. Lit. class at Barnard, there would be a lot of room for the individual interpretation and expression and empow…

Professor MacAdam is the sweetest person ever. He will talk to you about whatever and will put in a lot of time to help you figure out your point of view on the book. He is really accessible outside of class. On the course itself: First part is mighty boring. But after your first set of essays you start getting why did you have to read all the boring ancient stuff. As you progress through the course, you see why each book was included. Bottom line, each previous book helps you read the next one. I thought the course was very well made: I enjoyed it far better than another survey lit course I've taken. Professor MacAdam oftentimes made the entire class laugh to tears. I promise, you will be falling asleep listening about distant pasts of obscure people, and then you will find yourself falling off the chair, laughing. One of the most memorable instances was when we were reading Goethe, I believe. Professor MacAdam stood before class, explaining why did he choose that specific translation of the book. "My close friend translated it. Yeah, we're very close. In fact, I think of him every_day! *long pause, looking at the back wall over our heads* Because I have his sofa in my living room!"

Wooow, he is such a nice guy. he goes over the books in class, he is very funny and makes sure if you have any questions, he answers you. He is always encouraging people to attend his office hours if you have any questions. If you are a GS student and need to fulfill your literature requirements, trust me he is the man to go. at the beginning of the semester i didn't like lit, now because of him I enjoy reading literature. take him, you wont regret it.

I would not recommend Professor MacAdam AT ALL. As wonderful as the reading was, I could have read it on my own time and gotten nearly as much out of it. I had really major problems with Professor MacAdam's teaching style and will never take a class with him again. Though he always asked if there were "any questions?" the manner in which he did so made me feel as if my comments or thoughts weren't really welcome. What's more, he never really asked questions or encouraged discussion or participation-- this is the first time I've taken a literature course where this was the case, and it felt really unsatisfying. His lectures consisted mostly of Professor MacAdam standing and reading from his paper, which I found not to be particularly engaging, and always seemed to give me the impression that he was deigning to share his knowledge with us, rather than engaging with us as members of the same academic or intellectual community. Basically, if you want to sit passively and listen to a professor reading and doing his own egotistical thing for a semester, go for it, but if If you're a student who likes actually thinking about and discussing the texts, this is not the class for you.

I want to write a review for Professor MacAdam because I believe he is a bit misunderstood. Many on here have talked about how much they love him, but some believe he's just a pervy old man with dry lectures. This is not true! He DOES want his students to participate- he would always ask our class like 3 times over the course of the hour & 15 minutes if they had any questions or wanted to contribute something...and no one ever said anything. This genuinely disheartened him. I remember going to office hours one day and he expressed his disappointment that no one seemed to want to have any discussion...so if you feel as if he's just talking at you about the books, remember that he will ALWAYS welcome questions, comments, connections, or anything. He is so, so, SO knowledgable about pretty much every piece of literature to ever be written, in like every language...so make use of his brilliance! Engage in some debate! He really cares about his students and enjoys teaching them. And he is not a pervert. The class is literally about love and sex in literature; how can you not expect him to NOT talk about how the characters are gettin' it on? I recommend taking any class this man teaches. You will learn a ton, and I guarantee you will enjoy his sarcastic, deadpan sense of humor. Come to him with any issue (or even just to talk) and he'll be your best friend.