John Pagano

One of the things that's really make-or-break about a professor for me is their enthusiasm. If they love what they teach, and that shows, it's a lot easier for me to get invested and enthusiastic myself. This man gets so excited about what we're reading, it's incredible. He genuinely loves fantasy, and loves teaching it even more. He's sweet, really cares about his students, and is pretty flexible with deadlines. He gives great feedback on essays, and it's pretty easy to do well. The course material is a nice departure from typical lit classes - you get to read Tolkien and some other great contemporary authors, a Broadway musical, fairy tales, the Alice books, some paintings, as well as Shelley, Romantic poets, and Shakespeare. I honestly really loved this course, and would recommend, especially if you like the fantasy genre.

Take this class if you're into Lord of the Rings, class discussion, and a really nice professor. Honestly, Pagano was the best professor I could've taken to start off my english experiance here. He is super friendly and completely understanding, and he really cares about his students. At the end of every class, he asked us (and seemed concerned about ) whether we were enjoying class discussions. The subject matter is interesting, and the reading list (Keats, Allende, Shelley, Tolkein) covers pretty much every point on the fantasy spectrum. The discussions are also in depth and fascinating, and really tie together the genre as a whole. The discussions seem a bit circular at times, but because the subject matter is so specific there is often no other real common threads to point out. Overall, he's a great professor teaching interesting things (to a bunch of first-years nonetheless). Don't sign up for this if you're not into fantasy literature- but if you get into this class, be excited!

I Cannot speak highly enough of Professor Pagano. He is not only brilliant, eloquent and a fabulous instructor, but he is kind and also extremely funny. He cares a lot about his students and makes an effort to get to know all of them intellectually and personally. He is very passionate about literature and it's wonderful to hear him speak about it. He also encourages participation and doesn't shoot down comments that are off. That being said, he is good at mediating discussion so that it stays on track. He went to Columbia and was pre-med for a while, so he COMPLETELY understands the grade anxiety thing and does his best to help you do well in his class.He is NOT a hard grader at all. I wrote one of the worst essays I have ever written in my life for him. For any other teacher it would have been a C. He gave it an A-. Also you are allowed to revise each essay for a better grade. if you don't come out of the class with some form of an B or an A, it's your own fault. Most people got As. He is also VERY flexible with deadlines. Just an overall great guy.

I ABSOLUTELY ADORED Enchanted Imagination, Pagano's first year seminar class. He's a fantastic lecturer, and class is always fun. That man worships Tolkien, and he really has a deep love of all of the fantasy work you do in his class. Discussion was never boring, and the workload was pretty imaginable. TAKE HIS CLASS. DO IT.

Prof. Pagano is absolutely phenomenal. I actually took his class as a result of reading the reviews on CULPA, and they are absolutely true. He is passionate about the literature (actually, all literature in general), and has insights that really helped me to understand dense texts. I know I'm essentially re-hasing what others have said, but I believe that anyone can benefit from an experience with Prof Pagano and want to emphasize that. He even knew our names after the first class, and it's clear that he really cares about his students. He has an absurd knowledge of quotations from all sorts of literature and always finds some way to apply them to our discussion. It's very impressive. I absoultely recommend his class, regardless of your level of interest in fantasy/adventure-themed literature. I didn't have a particular interest prior to the class, but am now very glad I took it and had the chance to read the texts we did (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, To the Lighthouse, Hamlet, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Rings, Emily Dickinson poetry and so much more... truly quite the selection!)

What a beautiful man. You know how there are professors that drive you crazy and wonder why you work so hard and still don't reap any reward. Well this professor makes you realize that there are indeed GREAT professors out there, and that there is more to college than just grades. To add icing to the cake, if you show him that you know how to write a structured analytical essay, you will get an A. Beware of explicating in essays, he assigns explications already for each class. The class time is when you get to analyze it with your fellow classmates and Prof. Pagano. We went over a lot in this class and Prof. Pagano adds his insight till the very end to tie everything together. Take this class. You will not regret it. If anything, just take a class with him. He truly cares for his students and will not forget you. In fact, I met him the other day and he reminded me to stay strong throughout finals. For those who think that professors don't care about their students and such and such, do yourselves a favor and take a class with him. You will be very glad you did.

Really interesting material, as we read traditional fairytales, romantic poets, magical realism, and fantasy (we finish the year with Lord of the Rings!). The readings for the class are light and enjoyable. Almost everyone did them. The concept of the freewrite was also really helpful. Every night before class we would have to write a short, ungraded write up about the work. Really just what you thought of it. The freewrite barely took any time and we’re fun to do. I wish more English classes has freewrites. I agree with previous reviews though, something about Pagano really creeped me out. He also made comments that were borderline sexist or weird. I don’t think I would’ve chosen the class if I knew what I know now. Especially considering the wealth of amazing first year seminar classes.

Take this class if you are really into the reading list (a lot of otherworldly-themed stories) because he is really passionate about the topic and you will be bored and have nothing to contribute if you are not as interested. He listens to everyones' opinions and throws in his deep sense of the reading when he thinks that the responses do not speak to the texts. The pace of the class is very fast with a lot of readings, but you can get away with not reading the texts completely.

Sounds like a lot but once you get used to it isn't bad. -Weekly reading is heavy but you REALLY don't need to do it all. During midterms when stuff gets crazy this reading is the reading to blow off. Just have 1 comment to make in class and BS your way though...he doesn't care. -1 page freewrite posted to courseworks every week...can be done in 10 minutes. We -3 essays 5-7 pages, 1 final long essay. All graded easily and granted revisions.

Professor Pagano is a sweet man and enthusiastic about the content and his students. It's clear that he loves what he does and he often uses the class to discuss the importance of the texts to students' own lives and college journeys. He's especially great if you're a creative person because he is very supportive of the artistic life and praises it often. The readings are almost always interesting and fun and he does a really good job of having recurrent themes appear through different readings. That being said I always got a weird ~vibe~ from him. He never did anything inappropriate, but just made me uncomfortable with some of his feminist and psychosexual analysis of the works. He's never really said or done anything to really be labelled creepy, but it's also worth noting that I wasn't the only student who felt this way. Ultimately, Professor Pagano is a great teacher and the class is really interesting, he just made me uncomfortable sometimes.