ENGL 174B
American Fiction since 1945
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 10A, 10B, and 10C, or 11 and 87. Study of American novels and short stories since end of World War II. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - I liked Professor Perez-Torres. I didn't earn a good grade due to a fault of my own, in general I think he's a lenient grader. Professor Perez-Torres is friendly and approachable and his passion for good literature is inspiring. I really liked the material from his lectures, we read James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, John Okada, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, and Sandra Cisernos, looking at various perspectives of American society in the 20th century. I wish he would slow down to have a conversation with us students instead of just a full lecture. But the lectures are valuable, full of history and textual explication, and you will learn something if you take this class.
Fall 2022 - I liked Professor Perez-Torres. I didn't earn a good grade due to a fault of my own, in general I think he's a lenient grader. Professor Perez-Torres is friendly and approachable and his passion for good literature is inspiring. I really liked the material from his lectures, we read James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, John Okada, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, and Sandra Cisernos, looking at various perspectives of American society in the 20th century. I wish he would slow down to have a conversation with us students instead of just a full lecture. But the lectures are valuable, full of history and textual explication, and you will learn something if you take this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - Professor Simpson assigned many great short love stories that I enjoyed reading this quarter. Previous to this course, I didn't have much of an awareness of the genre and I definitely felt that I came out of the quarter well-versed in what makes a love story (and a short story) successful. Aside from the excellent selection of readings, Professor Simpson is admittedly not great with technology and electronic communication, which made certain aspects of the course difficult to manage. There was no Canvas page for this course which made arranging the group presentations harder than it had to be. The assigned readings were emailed to us at the start of the class instead of being posted on BruinLearn in a more organized way. Papers were never returned with grades or comments so it was difficult to discern your standing in the class before final grades were posted, but Professor Simpson would inform you of these things if you inquired directly and constantly reassured us that she was not a harsh grader. This is a more discussion oriented class, and while Professor Simpson does not lecture, she does encourage and foster interesting conversations surrounding the topics brought up in our readings.
Spring 2024 - Professor Simpson assigned many great short love stories that I enjoyed reading this quarter. Previous to this course, I didn't have much of an awareness of the genre and I definitely felt that I came out of the quarter well-versed in what makes a love story (and a short story) successful. Aside from the excellent selection of readings, Professor Simpson is admittedly not great with technology and electronic communication, which made certain aspects of the course difficult to manage. There was no Canvas page for this course which made arranging the group presentations harder than it had to be. The assigned readings were emailed to us at the start of the class instead of being posted on BruinLearn in a more organized way. Papers were never returned with grades or comments so it was difficult to discern your standing in the class before final grades were posted, but Professor Simpson would inform you of these things if you inquired directly and constantly reassured us that she was not a harsh grader. This is a more discussion oriented class, and while Professor Simpson does not lecture, she does encourage and foster interesting conversations surrounding the topics brought up in our readings.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - Prof Underwood is very nice and grades fairly easily, but in this class, she has timed writing for the midterm and final. These are easily upwards of 10 pages of timed writing, and while it is not hard to obtain a good grade, it can be grueling. If you are used to writing papers out of class, it will be a rude awakening. I only mark this as a major complaint simply because the class would be vastly more enjoyable without a load of timed writing, which is not a useful or applicable skill. However! If you prefer getting all of your writing done all at once in an exam, this will be perfect for you. Out of class, readings are fun, light, and easy to understand. The singular term paper is also easy enough to complete, though don't expect your prompt options to be very broad, or to be able to choose your own topic.
Spring 2019 - Prof Underwood is very nice and grades fairly easily, but in this class, she has timed writing for the midterm and final. These are easily upwards of 10 pages of timed writing, and while it is not hard to obtain a good grade, it can be grueling. If you are used to writing papers out of class, it will be a rude awakening. I only mark this as a major complaint simply because the class would be vastly more enjoyable without a load of timed writing, which is not a useful or applicable skill. However! If you prefer getting all of your writing done all at once in an exam, this will be perfect for you. Out of class, readings are fun, light, and easy to understand. The singular term paper is also easy enough to complete, though don't expect your prompt options to be very broad, or to be able to choose your own topic.
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