[ENAM 0212]
Literary Theory

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Professor: Baldridge

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (20%
Average (20%)
Valuable (60%)

Material

Friendly (20%)
Average (40%)
Competitive (40%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (20%)
Average (80%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (60%)
3-5hr (40%)
6-8hr (0%)
9-11hr (0%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (40%)
Average (0%)
Easier (60%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (60%)
No (40%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (40%)
No (60%)

Evaluation Comments for Baldridge

  1. Very cool class as far as the material was concerned. Once you free yourself from the pompous attitude of literary theorists, and just focus on the ideas, the class really comes full circle and changes your life. However, it?s also very easy to just sit there and let the tide of theory wash over you while you stubbornly sit there resisting new ways of looking at literature. The experience is very similar to taking a film classes and then never being able to enjoy Disney movies again. The material is great, but beware of Baldridge?s boring self-righteous lecture style. You?ll probably appreciate the wealth of information presented, assuming you don?t mind being read to out of the piles of dog-eared books he brings to class every day. This is the perfect class for students that love literature, and don?t mind expanding their interpretive methods to encompass Freudian bull shit, feminist rants, and scary formalist banter from old dead white guys. This class really lets you appreciate the wacky ideas put forth by other profs too: i.e. Billings, Brayton, Bertolini, etc.
  2. This class is, to put it simply, the absolute worst class Midd has to offer. Here are some reasons why: First, Baldridge's lectures are awful. If you enjoy listening to a Prof ejaculate at the sound of his own voice, go ahead and be my guest. The man is arrogant, patronizing, and reluctant to actually "teach" insofar as that involves discussing difficult concepts with his students. Second, the material in this class is hogwash. Literary theories are pompously confusing, boring, and needless to say, wordy. Baldridge may love talking about this stuff, but he neglects to impart his knowldege properly. At times, I can honestly say he seemed more intent on showing off what he knew, as opposed to actually teaching. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this class. I guarantee you'll regret taking it.
  3. I took this class because it's a requirement for the English major. I didn't particularly care for literary theory, but if you do, its a very valuable course packed with information. Professor Baldridge's lectures were usually very clear and sometimes very entertaining. On the down side, they were always packed with so much new material that it was often hard to absorb and get everything down on paper. Discussions varied in terms of how productive and interesting they were, but there were definitely classes when discussion came to an uncomfortable halt and the professor's questions did not succeed in drawing out responses. Overall, it was an okay class, but I personally would not take this class unless you have to.
  4. Ugh. This class was boring. And discussions were excruciating. The worst was when only 3 or 4 people showed up and it was so awkward.Like nobody had read. It's mostly girls in the class. The readings are a joke. Don't buy that huuuuge book he asks you to buy. I made the mistake of getting it, when I should've just read it on reserve. No sense lugging around luggage. You only have to do the readings for Fridays, cuz the rest of the assigned readings he covers in class. This class is a joke. There were two papers and a final. The final consisted of id paragraphs on 20 or so terms, all terms of which we had covered in class. Breeeeze. But boring. Sometimes we'd read something cool about how to interpret a book, but it gets annoying. I'd rather just read it myself my own way than apply deconstructionist, Freudian or Marxist lenses on it. Gah. But you'll do like 1 hour a week for readings. And then if you bang out a dece' essay, you'll get a B/B+ or A- even.
  5. Strong course. I liked the Professor very much. Baldridge is always in a good mood, and is a very straightforward lecturer. The material is quite interesting if you are interested in literature. The workload is light compared to many courses. You can miss a lecture here and there, but Baldridge packs a lot of good info into each lecture so its a good idea to make them. My discussion section was rather enjoyable as well.

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