Nicholas Dames

Professor Dames is one of the best professors I’ve had at Columbia. His discussions were always insightful, and thought provoking. I really appreciated how deeply knowledgeable he was about every book we read, and his teaching inspired me to continue minoring in the humanities despite being a STEM major. He is the GOAT of lit hum profs

What can be said about Prof. Dames that hasn't been said already. He is not just a kind and helpful man, but also extraordinarily knowledgeable and passionate. He is an excellent leader of in-class discussion and seems genuinely eager to hear what others have to say, not a given in English courses. Excellent choice of readings. The only criticism I might offer is that Dames is too nice; this bothered me only when he would rather spin a silly comment into gold rather than shut it down (a la Erik Gray, his close competitor in excellence). But I guess that is just a mater of preference. This class was remarkable--not just for its engagement in close reading, but also for placing short stories in a historical context that was both illuminating and comprehensive.

Man, oh man. Where to start? How about here: Nick Dames will be the best professor you have at Columbia. I suppose it's possible there's someone a little better out there, lurking in a barely occupied seminar about fin-de-siècle sculpture in the Maldives, but I doubt it. Who else could get away with scheduling a class at 9 a.m. on Fridays—and have his students be happy with it? I spent a semester's worth of Thursday nights hunched over books and in bed by midnight, and I remember it more fondly than anything else I've done here. Dames has, as you may have guessed, every skill one needs to be an excellent scholar. He speaks a million languages: German, Latin, French, and Greek all popped up during our sessions. He has read seemingly every book ever, prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, English or otherwise. He reads with awe-inspiring care, dwelling on asides and word choices in addition to themes and metaphors and symbols. But there are plenty of excellent scholars around this place. It's Columbia, for crissakes. Dames distinguishes himself from everyone else here through his immense classroom gifts. No one can lead a discussion like he can. It's not that he's great at coaxing participation out of his students—he isn't; he's actually a fairly reserved guy. What he can do is take the most threadbare comment from the dimmest or least attentive person in the room and make it s…

Hands down the best literature class I've ever taken. There were only 4 novels on the syllabus, but each was carefully chosen, and Dames links them well in his lectures ("We'll see this theme treated differently in Little Dorrit" for example), so the class flows seamlessly. But what made this class so phenom. was the professor's willingness and ability to reference other historical and social movements of the time. What other English professor would hand out a selection from Maxwell's physics texts, or photocopy a dictionary of slang? These aren't gimmicks but very carefully woven into the fabric of his lectures. You come away from class thinking about these novels in a completely different and interdisciplinary way. He's also incredibly approachable after class and in office hours. I wish I had gone to his OH more frequently!

I don't see what all the fuss is about. I'm going to ignore the fact that I didn't really enjoy the readings when reviewing Dames because judging by his patterns in lecture, the novels weren't really important. He would spend 95% of the class talking about something in Victorian society only tangentially (if at all) related to the novel itself and then in the last 5 minutes make some obscure statement about how what he was just talking about is somewhat related to the novel. Some people seemed to eat it up. I didn't. I was hoping he could shed some light on why these books are important, why they are still read, and what we can gain from them. Instead, I sat through lectures on subjects as varied as suicides in 19th century Europe and Phrenology. I want my time back.

Simply put, Dames is an all-around best professor you can have for a lecture course. He is: A) engaging and articulate, B) friendly and open to take questions, C) never runs out of steam (every lecture was astoundingly brilliant), and D) totally fair about grades. 19th Century European Novels has to be one of my favorite courses I've taken at Columbia even though I hated most of the material. Dames' insight into literature is amazing, and he made every book seem fascinating. I'm sure I'm not alone in my assessment when I say Dames is absolutely phenomenal. Just read the other reviews. Or ask around, I'm sure all the English majors will agree, Dames is incredible.

Definately one of the most interesting lectures available at Columbia. I never wanted to skip because the quality of each lecture is only surpassed by it's ability to be engaging at the same time. Dames has truly unique interpretations of the novels on the syllabus and is very approachable. I don't even like 19th Century novels that much and now really love a lot of the books I read for the class. What's more is that his lectures are completely ORGANIZED but he doesn't seem to consult a single note. Also, if you show up at each lecture, you will definately have no problems with the class. A very nice guy as well, very accomodating.

"The Nickster," as he came to be called in my Lit Hum class, is one of the friendliest, most intelligent people I've ever met. Totally devoted to his classes, has an amazing command of British literature. Bring up Austen and watch him go...his lectures are articulate and complex enough to be studied in a class of their own, but he's more than open to comment, dissent, or questions...will explain the dirtiest pun in the Lysistrata or the sociological implications of Jude the Obscure with equal adroitness. I've had a class with him every semester since I got here; don't know what I'll do when I run out of options!

Learned a variety of critical lenses and delved into major genres of literature

THIS MAN IS THE BEST PERSON EVER. I love him with my whole heart. Please take his class, he is a godsend. No midterm and he cut the passage id. He is amazing. 100/10