Nathan Gorelick

Too much work. But good professor generally, lots of good insights. But for a pass fail class, way too much work.

A dream journal consisting of 12 dreams, with your own interpretations for 6 of them based on chain of associations; 5 discussion posts between 100–300 words; 2 exams; 3 pop reading quizzes (which require a general read-through of the readings. No difficult questions about concepts, just basic information provided by the texts). As long as you keep up with what is presented in class and maintain a general understanding of the readings, you'll do fine on the exams. They are more educational than evaluative.

Decent amount of reading but not overwhelming. Interesting articles and books that were well chosen.

Took his FYS last semester (Spring 2024) and was such a joy! Every seminar pushes you not only to really think and come to your own conclusions, but also to keep thinking and engaging with material outside of the class. He expects a lot out of your writing but I'm grateful for how much my analytical and critical thinking skills have improved. Great class and sure to stand as one of the highlights of my college experience.

I’m writing to pay tribute to this incredible man. This class has been a mind-blowing, life-changing engagement with psychoanalytical theories, which are often stigmatized (alongside literary theories like Saussure). The course reexamines overused terms like ego, uncanny, castration, etc., within the contexts in which they were originally written, pushing you to grasp their nuanced meanings in psychoanalysis. More than merely using psychoanalysis as a lens to understand literature, this class explored how the two disciplines inform and enrich each other. We specifically analyzed To the Lighthouse alongside the confluence and deviations between psychoanalysis and modernism. Other texts included Act III of Hamlet, The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann, “Funes, His Memory” by Jorge Luis Borges, “A Farewell" and "The Widower" by Arthur Schnitzler, A Report to an Academy and The Hunger Artist by Kafka, Ex Machina, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, and “Going to Meet the Man” by James Baldwin. The psychoanalytic texts we studied included Freud's Three Case Histories, Civilization and Its Discontents, The Interpretation of Dreams, Repression, and "A Note Upon the ‘Mystic Writing-Pad’"; Lacan's “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience” from Écrits; Powers of Horror by Julia Kristeva; and “When Our Lips Speak Together” b…

I LOVE GORELICK. Seriously such a kind, intelligent and interesting guy. If you are at all interesting in attention or social media take this class!

Readings aren't easy but very very interesting. I skipped them sometimes but ended up wishing I had done them during class. He gives you not just literary texts but also movies, YA books, music videos.

· 3~4 discussion posts, as long as you devote some effort and have decent ideas in them, he'll mark as A and complete · 3 concept paper (much like reflect papers), 2-3 page papers, demonstrate your efforts to understand some of the difficult ideas included in one of the readings in three of the modules. Each one worth 5 points, but the lowest he gives on those papers would be about 4.6 · Salon discourse in which you prepare a staged conversation with one or two other students. As long as you reflect and discuss ideas talked about in class, easy A · 8-10 page final research paper (need two outside sources, engage in only one of the readings in any of the modules)

In-class work consisted of journaling, discussions, group discussions, and share outs. No pressure to share thoughts and discussions are very open. Homework was a lot of reading, but not difficult, just long, but still interesting. 3 essays total, you submit a first and final draft for all 3. Even though it's P/F, he still gives good writing feedback and is interested in what you have to say.

Way too much readings absolutely too much readings. It's a FYS class requirement for Barnard, but the writing level he expects from you is so much.