RUTR 2730

Excellent class. Connolly is a great lecturer. The TA, Mark, was superb--unlike many TA's here, he was more concerned about making sure students understand the material than making the class difficult. Midterm and final, both take-home.

Interesting class, the professor is incredibly into Dostoevsky which becomes apparent very quickly, but he is also very helpful. Be sure to read the works (for the most part), go to regularly lecture and participate every week in discussion. The midterm and final (both take-home) will be a breeze if you do.

Good class, LOTS of reading. Midterma dn final make up your whole grade. If you keep up with the reading it's a very solid, interesting course.

Professor Connolly is fabulous. He is so into what he's talking about, and the insights he provides make the class incredibly interesting. There is a lot of reading, but I highly recommend it. John was also a great TA if you have the opportunity to take a class with him

I loved this class, I took it as a first year because it sounded interesting and I fell in love with Russian literature and Dostoevsky in particular. Connolly is so sweet and funny, he saves newspaper clippings from years ago that may have mentioned Dostoevsky in a roundabout fashion and reads them to the class. He's so passionate about the subject and wants to share everything he knows with the students, wonderful class.

Connolly is a great professor, but in my opinion, if you want to read Dostoevsky, read Dostoevsky. He's not a difficult writer. You don't need to take this class. It's just A LOT of mandatory pleasure reading that you don't need tacked onto your already heavy course load. If you do take the class, remember to write AS MUCH AS YOU CAN for the midterm. It's a one hour long take home midterm. Personally, I'm a slow and exact writer, so I sacrificed length for precision and got a B because my TA wanted to see lengthy analysis and lengthy evidence. Overall, I don't see any reason to take this class.

Connolly clearly knows a lot about Dostoevsky and Russian language, and he is a truly charming character. I often felt that he could be a character out of a Gogol story. Though he offered interesting insights, I feel that the works of Dostoevsky themselves outweigh any of the material covered in lecture or discussion. Unfortunately, this course requires lots of reading in short amounts of time (once it gets into Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, especially). I would only recommend this class if you're not taking many other reading-intensive classes or if you have minimal time constraints. I often wished I had the time to appreciate these texts more fully, and I plan to reread them at a more comfortable pace in the near future.

Professor Connolly is a gem. This class was a lot of reading (obviously) and the discussion once a week was kind of a time-suck (but Jill is wonderful). Still, it's a nice balance to your schedule if you need it--pretty indulgent. Your only job is to read and analyze Dostoyevsky's life works, and learn a bit about Russian culture along the way. Connolly is an enthusiastic and smart lecturer, and there is only a midterm and a final, both of which are straightforward. This remains one of my favorite classes I've ever taken at UVa.