ENLT 2526

I had Professor Kinney for "The Novel of Upbringing" this semester. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Professor Kinney is hands down one of the worst professors I could've ever have had. He's extremely erudite-sounding but in actuality makes no sense whatsoever. Our "seminar" had extremely little discussion and was mostly him lecturing. When reading Huckleberry Finn, he spent 60 of our 75 minutes talking about the RIVER. It was actually insane. He is not a good professor and I highly encourage you to NEVER TAKE A CLASS WITH HIM EVER IF YOU CARE FOR YOUR SANITY. Simply because of him, I skipped probably a third of the classes.

25% of the grade is the first paper, which is short (5-7 pages) and based on one of the first three books (for us, Emma, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein). 50% of the grade is the second long paper (9-12 pages) and based on the last three books (for us, Great Expectations, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Handling Sin). 25% of the grade together is the final exam and participation (not sure what the actual breakdown is here, as the syllabus doesn't say, but it's probably 15% exam 10% participation/attendance).

Despite how much this class sucks, it's easy. The reading assigned is over a hundred pages for each day, but with Sparknotes/Litcharts + skimming along, it's pretty doable. I got an A on the first paper and never heard back about my second paper, but ended with an A- in the class despite missing 1/3 of the classes. The classes aren't useful at all and you will not learn a single thing, so if you need to miss a class go right ahead, you're not hurting anyone. The papers are still pretty easy to write without good analysis from class. Professor Kinney is friendly, but really just terrible.

Overall, don't take this course unless you're really passionate about the readings, and even then, think long and hard about it.