ENGL 10C
Literatures in English, 1850 to Present
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: English Composition 3 or 3H, English 4W or 4HW, 10A, 10B. Survey of major writers and genres, with emphasis on tools for literary analysis such as close reading, argumentation, historical and social context, and critical writing. Minimum of three papers (three to five pages each) or equivalent required. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
1 of 2
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - The syllabus for this class was not awful, but the way that many texts were spoken on and discussed made me continuously ill. Minorities were often the topic of the class (Bristow is white btw) and in his eyes they can only exist as people of struggle. Black people could not exist as free people without the help of White people, immigrants only come from countries that are dangerous and never feel welcomed in their own communities, lesbians only want to be men. This was a large majority of the syllabus and what Bristow took away from the readings, if he even did ANY close reading at all. Lectures went over and it often feels as if he focuses more on what historical tidbit he thinks is interesting or the author's struggling parents than the readings themselves. The structure was extremely unorganized and quite a few of the readings ended up being omitted or even added as extra material (in the form of recordings posted less than a week before the final). Bristow is not helpful in any way with student's writing, and instead complained about the abundance of low grades this quarter. He believes there is a standard to be upheld at UCLA; but only by the students, because him as a professor, he's sooooo perfect! There's no way he could improve at all! Don't ask him about your feedback, I hear he will be awful to you. The really saddening part of this class was that while the colored people, immigrants and the lesbians struggled internally with their identity, the gay white men experienced struggles because of society. There was no real internal struggle, and while the colored gay men's stories always ended with them still mentally unsatisfied, the white, gay men's stories ended with them mentally uplifted, discovering their struggle was only placed on them by the boundaries of societal opinions. The next major qualm I had with this class was its paper topics. Topics were trivial, and often worded to make them seem smarter than they are, and you won't really get paper #1 back in time for paper #2 but it's okay! That is completely on purpose. You will not emerge from this class a better writer, or feel like your writing has improved. In fact, you may hate your writing and loose all confidence. It's almost as if he wants you to feel awful about your papers, with no change of getting better, or even knowing what you need to improve on. Just glad I've learned my lesson: I am actively avoiding this distinguished professor and his classes like the plague.
Winter 2023 - The syllabus for this class was not awful, but the way that many texts were spoken on and discussed made me continuously ill. Minorities were often the topic of the class (Bristow is white btw) and in his eyes they can only exist as people of struggle. Black people could not exist as free people without the help of White people, immigrants only come from countries that are dangerous and never feel welcomed in their own communities, lesbians only want to be men. This was a large majority of the syllabus and what Bristow took away from the readings, if he even did ANY close reading at all. Lectures went over and it often feels as if he focuses more on what historical tidbit he thinks is interesting or the author's struggling parents than the readings themselves. The structure was extremely unorganized and quite a few of the readings ended up being omitted or even added as extra material (in the form of recordings posted less than a week before the final). Bristow is not helpful in any way with student's writing, and instead complained about the abundance of low grades this quarter. He believes there is a standard to be upheld at UCLA; but only by the students, because him as a professor, he's sooooo perfect! There's no way he could improve at all! Don't ask him about your feedback, I hear he will be awful to you. The really saddening part of this class was that while the colored people, immigrants and the lesbians struggled internally with their identity, the gay white men experienced struggles because of society. There was no real internal struggle, and while the colored gay men's stories always ended with them still mentally unsatisfied, the white, gay men's stories ended with them mentally uplifted, discovering their struggle was only placed on them by the boundaries of societal opinions. The next major qualm I had with this class was its paper topics. Topics were trivial, and often worded to make them seem smarter than they are, and you won't really get paper #1 back in time for paper #2 but it's okay! That is completely on purpose. You will not emerge from this class a better writer, or feel like your writing has improved. In fact, you may hate your writing and loose all confidence. It's almost as if he wants you to feel awful about your papers, with no change of getting better, or even knowing what you need to improve on. Just glad I've learned my lesson: I am actively avoiding this distinguished professor and his classes like the plague.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - This class with Cohen and Grossman was the easiest college class I have taken here. No final, no midterm, only a short first paper, an easy, short project, and a six page final paper. They’re both really entertaining, although I liked Cohen more because he was more clear and concise. Grossman tends to get off track and ramble over students, although I still really liked him because of his enthusiasm. If you need to take 10C, take it with these guys, it’s worth it.
Winter 2020 - This class with Cohen and Grossman was the easiest college class I have taken here. No final, no midterm, only a short first paper, an easy, short project, and a six page final paper. They’re both really entertaining, although I liked Cohen more because he was more clear and concise. Grossman tends to get off track and ramble over students, although I still really liked him because of his enthusiasm. If you need to take 10C, take it with these guys, it’s worth it.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I know that people often say that Grossman is chaotic and disorganized, but I found him to be a breath of fresh air compared to other professors who don't really like to be so personable with students. I enjoyed his lectures and his enthusiasm for teaching 10C and he's just a very kind person. He always checks in on students and wants them to do well. His quizzes are super easy as long as you show up to class, but the oral retakes he offers really aren't that bad either if you at least do the readings. And while he does want you to use physical copies of the books, he opts for individual copies you can get for super cheap rather than the Norton anthologies that can be expensive. If you can't afford to buy or rent a copy, he'll get one for you. He's seriously one of the nicest professors out there. Take him!
Spring 2022 - I know that people often say that Grossman is chaotic and disorganized, but I found him to be a breath of fresh air compared to other professors who don't really like to be so personable with students. I enjoyed his lectures and his enthusiasm for teaching 10C and he's just a very kind person. He always checks in on students and wants them to do well. His quizzes are super easy as long as you show up to class, but the oral retakes he offers really aren't that bad either if you at least do the readings. And while he does want you to use physical copies of the books, he opts for individual copies you can get for super cheap rather than the Norton anthologies that can be expensive. If you can't afford to buy or rent a copy, he'll get one for you. He's seriously one of the nicest professors out there. Take him!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - I was one of the few people in my discussion who genuinely enjoyed attending lecture. She's adorable and a bit eccentric and quite clearly adores teaching. Her lectures tend to be quite lacking in structure, and many of my peers had difficulty ascertaining what exactly they should be taking notes on. My advice would be to make a note of which passages she discusses, as well as paying attention to the important historical contexts or styles/literary devices/themes that she points out. She is, for the most part, extremely approachable, considerate, and kind. If your paper is randomly chosen to be graded by her, she will be a bit harsh and leave at most two comments. However, you will have 3 short essays (4 pages!) to prove yourself, and the first one will only count 10% of your grade. I found it most helpful to hound my TA when planning my essays. There is no midterm, and the final is graded more kindly than the essays are. Our final had (if I'm remembering correctly) 17 ID terms, and you only needed to correctly identify 15 of them, with the full title and the writer's full name. There is poetry explication, and then a final long essay in which you are given two "big ideas" and you pick one to write about. It's definitely very helpful to keep up with the reading, but I'll admit that I fell behind on most of the longer works. Reading detailed summaries and taking really good lecture notes will carry you through just fine. I really did enjoy this class, though ultimately the most electrifying lecture had been given by one of the TAs. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend taking 10C with Jaurretche!
Spring 2018 - I was one of the few people in my discussion who genuinely enjoyed attending lecture. She's adorable and a bit eccentric and quite clearly adores teaching. Her lectures tend to be quite lacking in structure, and many of my peers had difficulty ascertaining what exactly they should be taking notes on. My advice would be to make a note of which passages she discusses, as well as paying attention to the important historical contexts or styles/literary devices/themes that she points out. She is, for the most part, extremely approachable, considerate, and kind. If your paper is randomly chosen to be graded by her, she will be a bit harsh and leave at most two comments. However, you will have 3 short essays (4 pages!) to prove yourself, and the first one will only count 10% of your grade. I found it most helpful to hound my TA when planning my essays. There is no midterm, and the final is graded more kindly than the essays are. Our final had (if I'm remembering correctly) 17 ID terms, and you only needed to correctly identify 15 of them, with the full title and the writer's full name. There is poetry explication, and then a final long essay in which you are given two "big ideas" and you pick one to write about. It's definitely very helpful to keep up with the reading, but I'll admit that I fell behind on most of the longer works. Reading detailed summaries and taking really good lecture notes will carry you through just fine. I really did enjoy this class, though ultimately the most electrifying lecture had been given by one of the TAs. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend taking 10C with Jaurretche!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - Lopez is honestly such a great professor. She is engaging, funny, and very hip. She can sometimes get pretty political in her lectures which bothers some people, but I think it's awesome because she really tries to relate course material to current events and make it relevant. Her lectures tend to be pretty heavy on the history behind pieces of literature, and instead of doing a lot of close reading in class she instead poses lots of big questions and ideas that students should think about regarding the texts. Class is graded as so: In class work - 5% Section Grade - 15% Essay 1 - 15% Group Project - 20% Essay 2 - 25% Final - 20% The group project generally bums people out when they see it on the syllabus, and I was definitely dreading having to do it. But it's actually pretty cool, it's basically just creating a database of a bunch of primary, secondary, etc etc sources on an author of your group's choice. Lopez also is very lenient with the grading and everyone does really well on the project--she mainly just makes the group project a thing because she wants students to learn how to use the library. Overall, 10C was great and very well balanced in terms of assignments and grading. Would definitely recommend taking Lopez--she is fair, interesting, engaging, and just super cool.
Winter 2017 - Lopez is honestly such a great professor. She is engaging, funny, and very hip. She can sometimes get pretty political in her lectures which bothers some people, but I think it's awesome because she really tries to relate course material to current events and make it relevant. Her lectures tend to be pretty heavy on the history behind pieces of literature, and instead of doing a lot of close reading in class she instead poses lots of big questions and ideas that students should think about regarding the texts. Class is graded as so: In class work - 5% Section Grade - 15% Essay 1 - 15% Group Project - 20% Essay 2 - 25% Final - 20% The group project generally bums people out when they see it on the syllabus, and I was definitely dreading having to do it. But it's actually pretty cool, it's basically just creating a database of a bunch of primary, secondary, etc etc sources on an author of your group's choice. Lopez also is very lenient with the grading and everyone does really well on the project--she mainly just makes the group project a thing because she wants students to learn how to use the library. Overall, 10C was great and very well balanced in terms of assignments and grading. Would definitely recommend taking Lopez--she is fair, interesting, engaging, and just super cool.
AD
1 of 2
