Christopher Baswell

The class itself was good. For starters, Baswell gives you a really comprehensive look at the Tales by offering a lot of supplementary material to enrich your understanding, including handouts on Middle English pronunciation and links to websites with linguistic and audio resources. I was enamored with his lectures - never reductive, as they relate the rhetorical structure and other formal aspects of the Tales to its substantive content, and weave in a lot of literary theory and historical context. That being said, I'm genuinely surprised, judging from the reviews below, that other people have had positive experiences with him as a person. To me, he was elitist, misogynist, and xenophobic. These are some instances of what happened: 1) We went over my final exam in his office hours, during which he asked, "Is English your second language?" I said no (it technically is, as I'm first-gen American, something about which I've felt acutely self-conscious at this institution); he responded, "Oh, so did you go to public school then?" It's really quite incredulous and inexcusable. Both ethnic and class condescension, in one? Really? My final grade was a B+, which - considering the standards to which he holds his students - isn't a bad grade; I'm proud of it. Accordingly, there's literally nothing that could have warranted those comments, other than a desire to be cruel via repulsive an…

Okay, at the risk of being anonymously passive-aggressive toward my classmates, I'm gonna jump in here and respond mostly to the Nov. 5 review below this one. The syllabus was definitely not pointless. Odd, sure, but certainly relevant in obvious ways to disability studies (though I may have to agree about the Pope...). Then again the class wasn't really supposed to be ~about~ disability studies anyway, or even necessarily about disability as it's most commonly interpreted. It's not a theory course or a methods course but a literature course based on body difference very broadly defined—and that includes not just the obvious stuff like Jean-Dominique Bauby but weird shit like the magical talking wolves of medieval Ireland too. (Speaking of which, yes, there's a bit of a medieval bent to the syllabus, so if Beowulf and the saints' lives aren't your cup of tea, then the first couple weeks of the semester may well be a drag for you.) Basically this class allows for a lot of flexibility in what "disability" means, and I can understand why it would be off-putting to someone who's trying to get at a more mainstream/contemporary/political/social understanding of the subject. Personally, I really liked the eclectic approach, and I think that it made for a more interesting class than simply reading, I don't know, 20th-century memoir accounts one after another. TL;DR: This is a cool cla…

Professor Baswell changed my life. I went into The Canterbury Tales having half-read one Tale - not set on keeping the course past the shopping period. I'm an English major but I've never particularly been enthralled by Medieval Literature (and, generally, I'm still not). However, this course is easily the best course I've ever taken in my time here. He made the topic so exciting and I was genuinely so excited to go to class. It was the first class where I looked at the clock and was disappointed that we "only" had 45 minutes left. I recommend all English majors take this course. Heck, I recommend everyone take this course. I left the course feeling so confident in my understanding of the Tales - and no, I didn't do all the readings all the time.

This class was truly disappointing. It's such an interesting topic, but the syllabus is just one boring, unreadable, pointless book after another. 2/3 of the course is dedicated to medieval/ancient texts that sort of relate to disability, but not enough to make us have to endure reading them. Seriously, it goes beyond boring mainstays like Beowulf and Canterbury Tales (although you read those too) - the syllabus approaches a whole next level of boring. You spend an entire class discussing "History and Topography of Ireland," which is pretty much the ancient Irish equivalent of a mystical TripAdvisor entry. I still have no idea how it could possibly be even remotely relevant. Then there's the class about "The Life of St. Osith," which may have been even more dreadful than the Ireland book! Pope, Montaigne and Locke each get their own classes too, and while they are all certainly very important to the study of western literature, they really don't have much to say about disability. You'd be better off taking a class just on 17th century lit. Professor Baswell is a nice guy, and he knows his stuff, but the class itself is miserable.

Prof. Baswell is a gem. Not only is he a fantastic professor, he is a truly delightful individual. His knowledge of medieval literature is absolutely astounding and his enthusiasm is irrepressible. Furthermore, he is genuinely invested in the success of his students. He made himself very available during office hours and was very helpful in scheduling meetings outside of his office hours to accommodate student's needs. I would happily pay a million dollars to listen to him read Middle English to me all day. His pronunciation is absolutely beautiful. Baswell's tests are fair and reasonable. I found I didn't need to do any studying outside of class to prepare for his tests. I paid attention and took notes during every class and was able to do well on the tests with almost no additional effort. Baswell is no push over and his grading reflects his high standards. I would say that Baswell is a fair grader and makes up for any toughness with his willingness to help during the writing process. Overall, I would highly recommend taking a class with Prof. Baswell. He's the kind of professor you want to learn from and grab a coffee or beer with after class.

Christopher Baswell is an extremely cool guy. He is passionate about what he is teaching, and very, very smart, and funny. You will enjoy his lectures. His insights into the material are interesting, and he is a generous teacher- you will feel comfortable asking questions. He often praises students' questions or observations but he is not jerking your chain- if you are engaged in the reading and he can see that, he will appreciate it. The course I took with him was Social Topics in Literature: Disability. We read literature and disability theory side by side. He has a lot to say about both sides of the syllabus, so be attentive to his lectures. It is possible to just skim a lot of the reading and still do well, but you must come to class to do well- use the ideas he offers in his lectures, get into the ideas of the course, and you will do well.

I have taken two classes with Professor Baswell, Canterbury Tales in Fall 2009 and Chaucer Before Canterbury (which was a broad survey of Chaucer’s other works, some post-Canterbury) in Spring 2011, and am baffled by the paucity of reviews here. There is no question that he is one of the most insightful, encouraging, and motivated professors I have encountered in my time at Columbia. What do you expect from a college-level English lecture? Baswell’s Canterbury Tales was my first, and I still have yet to encounter another professor whose approach surpasses what was on display there. It will of course be obvious that no particular style can satisfy every student. Baswell taught in a manner that accommodated student questions and participation (which, admittedly, was always welcome, and indeed solicited, but rarely offered willingly) but which required none. I left this 9 a.m. class every time in a daze; his exposition of the text took on the gravity of a sermon, and always deftly wove historical details and knowledge Chaucer’s personal life into the analysis. I can hardly imagine readings more cogent than those offered by Baswell (you cannot doubt his mastery of and love for the texts). The Canterbury Tales is a dirty, profound, and moving work. It is by turns vulgar and sacred, and all of it is heady stuff when you start to take apart the accruing layers. And did I mention you’…

Very reasonable. He uses the midterms to make sure people are doing the reading, so if he can tell that the class is generally keeping up he'll cancel them (which is what happened with both of ours). Primary + secondary reading for each class, two shortish papers, a take-home essay final, and a bibliographical exercise.

Pretty standard. 2 essays, reading for every class, 2 midterms that ultimately got cancelled.

One bibliographic essay, two 6-page papers, two in-class midterms (which are easy, and just to see if you have done any reading), take-home final.