This guy LOVES what he does. Professor Kristal is very passionate about teaching and literature, which is great, but the class can still be fairly boring if you're just taking it to take care of a GE and aren't interested in the subject matter.

We read excerpts from The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, As You Like It, and poetry by Sor Juana. You aren't required to read the whole book, but I'd recommend it for The Divine Comedy and As You Like it. Lectures consist of him talking about the current reading and discussing what he thinks is important, and as long as you pay attention you should be pretty set for the exams. Discussion sections are required, but it's just the TA and a small group talking about the important parts of what we read that week. Exams are mostly just reading comprehension, with short answer questions and a short essay attached. You also have to write a 5-page essay, but the TA will walk you through it and grading is pretty lenient.

Prof. Kristal is very knowledgeable of the material. However, the slides he show are mostly artwork. The majority of the information is spoken, and spoken quickly. So be prepared to constantly take notes. Also, although we studied 4 books in this class, we were not expected to read the books in their entirety. Discussion participation consisted of 20% of the grade so make sure you attend those.

He is definitely a good professor. I would argue that he actually cut his lectures too short, as he would never take the full hour and 50 minutes but usually lecture for about only an hour. I do not think that this was enough to cover all the reading that was done, we read the entire Divine Comedy, a about half of Don Quixote, Shakespeare's "As You Like It", and about 200 other pages from Sor Juana. So yeah, hella reading! Anyways, I would agree with what everyone else has said, only that I would say I was surprised by the final, some material that was on it I was surprised by because he did not hint that it would be on, as he did for the midterms. Nonetheless, I still got a great grade (A) on it, but I do feel lucky I was able to recall some of the passages. Also, I had a really awesome T.A., Dana Linda. She helped us study for the midterms/final and helped me a lot with paper(We had one 5 page paper). So thank you Dana! Finally, if you do take this class, you should meet with professor Kristal or your TA as they were both very helpful, I met with them each twice and I know it helped me a great deal, both grade-wise and helping me learn the material.

Loved the class and professor! He is a very approachable and friendly teacher. I am a science major and was afraid that I would have great difficulty in this class. However, Kristal analyzed all the readings so well. I couldn't go to his office hours so I emailed my questions instead. His answers were very helpful and detailed as if he were speaking to me. The reading is very manageable. Everything on the midterm and the final come straight from the lectures. No surprises at all. I would suggest to highlight/write down all the passages he and the TA's go over class since there is a high possibility you will be tested on them. My main tip is to go to ALL lectures and take good notes. Highly recommend this class!

Absolutely incredible professor. I chose this class at the last minute to satisfy a GE, and it immediately became my favorite class. The lectures are interesting and enjoyable -- he is very knowledgable and articulate -- and he makes the texts (especially The Divine Comedy) accessible and easy to understand. He is passionate about his subject and transfers that passion to his students; this class made me want to change my major to literature. He eagerly answers any questions you may have, and his primary focus is to have each and every student really understand the underlying concepts of the texts. I also had an excellent TA (Nasia) and we had great discussions in section. Couldn't recommend this class more highly!