Selling GE Cluster 30 (Perspectives on Myth) books:

~The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales [ISBN: 9780520253964]
~Myths from Mesopotamia (including the Epic of Gilgamesh)[ISBN: 9780199538362]
~The Odyssey [ISBN: 0801882672]
~Sacred Narrative [ISBN: 9780520051928]
~Beowulf [ISBN: 9781400096220]
~The Iliad of Homer [ISBN: 9780226470498]
~A Writer's Reference (7th ed.) [ISBN: 9780312601430]
~The Heroic Ideal [ISBN: 9780786437863]

I am willing to negotiate reasonable prices for these books. Email me at europain94@ucla.edu

NOT ENGLISH 193. selling books for GE CLUSTER 30A.
- Beowulf ($12)
- The Iliad Homer ($10)
- The Mabinogi ($9)
- The Odyssey ($12)
- A Writer's Reference ($48)
- Sacred Narrative ($20)
- The Heroic Ideal ($20)
all the books are in really good condition, most of them like new.
please email at kellychoi94@gmail.com if interested!

I took the class with Nagy. He is somewhat odd.

Grading is based on the quizzes which are easy if you listen to your TA and do all the readings. I had Elizabeth Thornton as TA. She is very helpful and always willing to answer every question.

The articles on the course web are very good and neat.

The other main portion of grading are the essays; there are two each quarter with a rewrite of each. I worked extensively with my TA on it and was also able to get Nagy to comment on it.

I got an A in the class.

I had Professor Nagy (if you’re curious, it rhymes with garage and the y is silent) for both fall and winter of the GE30 cluster in 2011/2012, not the class above. He was definitely the best professor out of the teaching team, which also included Kendrick and Tangherlini. He seemed to be the “main” professor, as he definitely lectured more than the other two. Nagy is a very interesting man who starts off each lecture with some sort of clip, generally of the older/classic variety, and somehow connects it back to the reading and his lecture. (He seems to have a fondness for opera as well.) I usually enjoyed his lectures, and he did a good job covering the reading. Speaking of the reading, it was often dry and boring, especially in the fall. The class is more focused on what is a myth/classifying myths/being really technical about definitions and less about actually reading and comparing myths. However, you do read a bunch of myths from around the world and get to hear from an assortment of guest lectures.

Grading is based on reading quizzes that I found very easy considering I actually did all the readings. Most of the people I knew in that class didn’t bother to do the reading, and their scores on the reading quizzes ranged from fine to not-so-great. While there are a lot of books to buy for the class, Nagy is good about putting up articles on the course website that you can print out or simply read off your screen, which is much nicer than paying for a course reader. Additionally, you don’t have to buy any new books for winter. The other main portion of grading are the essays; there are two each quarter with a rewrite of each. Instead of a final, there is an essay due finals week. I ended up with an A in fall and an A+ in winter.

For discussion, I had Sara Burdorff. She is super nice and a great TA Take her if she is still there! Other TAs that seemed great based on their lectures/word of mouth are Wayne Bass and Laura Pierson. Anna Page was also lovely, but sadly I’m pretty sure that was her last year.

I had Nagy for the GE30 Cluster on Myth(though not his seminar), NOT the class I listed about
(i only selected that because it did not list this class as an option)
I should note that I only experienced Nagy as a lecturer; being a cluster, he never graded my actual work or assigned us any homework.
Nagy is a very spirited and very odd man. He talks passionately, but makes literary and thematic connections so random that the rest of the teaching staff tilts their heads. He'll play random clips from movies or shows, make some vague attempt and unconvincing attempt to connect it to the course, then move on.
A note for any freshmen looking at GE30: take it! its a fairly easy class for the most part. Though there is a lot of reading assigned, you REALLY DON'T HAVE TO DO IT because you are only tested on knowledge from these readings in 3-4 quizzes a quarter. The quizzes are very easy, multiple choice (out of 4), and based mostly on LECTURE, not readings. The reason you don't have to do the readings is because the professors will talk about their main points about the readings in lecture, or your TAs will discuss it in section, and the quizzes offer extra credit at the end of the quarter, and you are allowed to skip questions on each of the quizzes for no missed points (so why not skip the ones based on the readings?!). Just make sure you turn up for lecture- they are very important, and do not post slides or any such thing online (generally, the professors just talk and don't really use slides) So for any freshmen- YOU DON'T NEED TO WASTE THE $150+ ON BOOKS FOR THIS CLASS!
You grade will mostly depend on your papers, which will be graded by your TAs. The TAs, for the most part (at least in the 10-11 year) are great and knowledgeable people. If Anna Page, Sara Burdoff, or Mal Harris are still around, take one of them. DO NOT TAKE Elizabeth Thornton if you can help it. The seminars in the spring offer fun varieties and choice of topic for the most part.
Overall, I recommend this class, as the readings aren't necessary for success, and its a fun and fairly interesting topic