EGMT 1510

I took "Time and Memory in the Arts". While I wasn't too fond of the course material itself, I do love how the course was structured. As long as you are good with deadlines, this class is an easy A. There is a discussion question due the night before every class, a weekly journal, three short writings, and a final project at the end (which is a short essay on a topic of your choosing). This course is probably a good pick if you are interested in the historical literature and psychology.

The premise of the class is interesting: how do our memories influence the way we experience the world and vice versa? The main book through which this is explored is "Swann's Way" by Marcel Proust, a French author from the 1900s. Make sure you would be interested in this topic before signing up for it, since this is what's explored for the majority of the quarter.

A tip for the reading. As Professor Smith said: do not get too caught up in the details of "Swann's Way" when you are doing your reading. It is an extremely descriptive-intense writing and raises many questions in the plot that are not answered until later. The main point of the reading is just to get a general feel for how Proust details sensory experiences and memory, so do not stress or spend too much time on understanding every single detail. If a part of the reading was too difficult to understand, it's always a good idea to look at the section summary in the back of the book or to talk it out during the group discussions.

Professor Smith herself is extremely sweet and thoughtful. She does her best to give leniency on deadlines, and you will be able to tell that she doesn't want this to be a stressful experience for students. She hosted a movie night for us with desserts early on in the semester. Even though "Swann's Way" is not my normal pick for reading, she still made it pleasant for me and opened my perspective to new forms of writing and looking back on our memories. Overall, a great instructor.

I took "Time and Memory in the Arts" and found myself easily bored. Much of the class consists of reading a book and then discussing the readings in groups during class. Each class feels repetitive and the book (in my opinion) is not a very interesting read. If you love reading classic fiction then maybe this class is for you but personally, I found that the readings would just eat up my time and the discussions would drone on and on about the same topics every time.

If you have an interest in extensively reading Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, I would recommend this class. If that doesn't sound interesting to you, do not take the class.

Besides that, it's pretty easy to get an A in this class if you do the assigned work and show up to class. With that being said, the work for this class takes up more time than you would expect from a two credit engagement.

I took "Time and Memory in the Arts" online and it was not fun. The majority of the readings in the class stemmed from Marcel Proust's "Swann's Way" which according to the professor is one of the top books people lie about reading. It was tough to read because the author writes like someone rambles. Although it isn't Moby Dick, the time it would take to understand this book is comparable. Then during class, we would get randomly assigned to groups to answer reading questions. Some of them are from the reading so it's recommended that you do. It also helps during class discussion. For participation, we only needed to post a discussion question before each class. Then there are 3 posts you need to make, and the final assignment wasn't bad at all.
Wendy Smith is super nice and sweet. She'll probably give you an extension if you needed one. She really does try to make an unbearable book slightly more easy to digest.
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