Took this class Fall 2011. I enjoyed professor Wen's lectures and actually appreciated that he could translate Scandinavian culture and literate into laymen's terms and everyday vernacular. Wen tries to connect the course material to everyday life, and keeps the course load light for all with occasional movies/video clips. Apparently, Wen has a love for the melancholy Dane Soren Kierkegaard, who was mentioned every lecture or so. The reading material was excellent, ranging from HC Anderson's fairytales, Babette's Feast to the denser/heavier material in Hunger. I would recommend this class, but know that this is only a brief survey of Scand lit. With an hour long discussion and a large section, it's hardly possible to get in depth with literary analysis. Instead, maybe go to office hours if you want explore the subject even more.

Selling Scandinavian 50 Course Reader for $30.00. Literally brand new, hasn't been used.

Professor Wen dumbs this class down too much. I understand this is an introductory course, but his constant repetition and use of slang, like "dude" and "cool," in his lecture discussions of Scandinavian literature didn't make the texts any more accessible; rather, they made me me feel like he was patronizing my intelligence. Also, it is a grievous INJUSTICE that the "volunteers" for Hrafnkel's trial get an automatic A for the first assignment when the majority said one or two lines on the fly (no one really prepared except the prosecution and the defense attorneys)— so let me break this down: the bailiff gets 100% for saying "Quiet down" once in a while, and I get less than a 100% (because in the real world, 100% is and should be hard to come by) on a 3-page paper that required literary analysis and an argument ... INJUSTICE. Finally, serious students deserve a serious consideration of these texts (all very good, especially The Dwarf and Naive. Super), and as the class is right now, they are not getting that. They're getting watered-down, uninspired plot summary mixed with sweeping, general statements. I don't know what kind of pressure Wen is under from a certain department, but if he's going to pander to a certain constituency, maybe there should be an enrollment restriction on the class.

If you do want to take this class to get the easy A (why most people do take the class, including myself), try to get Glenn Brewer as your TA. Poor Glenn- a seasoned English TA walking into Scandinavian 50- that must feel like getting hit by a truck. Despite the student-babying regimen that higher-ups undoubtedly recommended, Glenn did his best to make students accountable for readings and for their ideas (plot summary might fly with Wen, but not in discussion and not on the midterm... it remains to be seen if he had to compromise his academic integrity to ensure the masses got As on the final). His discussion of the texts was critical and enlightening (absent in lecture), and he creates good rapport with his students. The only one "weakness" I perceived was his paper-grading method; the numbers felt a little arbitrary, and it would have been nice to have explicit reasons as to why points were docked.

Highly recommend this class, as mostly everyone has said. The only down thing I experiences was the essay. It's graded by the TAs of course, but I think my TA thought this was was the 50W class. The essay prompt (if you don't do the mock trial) is pretty easy and straight forward. Our TA tried to tell us we didn't understand the prompt. Uh, no. Other than that, it as a great class!

Professor Wen: Scandinavian 50 Fall 2011

This is an easy GE. It’s really popular, so if you want it, sign up early. Professor Wen is really chill, so it makes it all the more better. There are a lot of short stories in his course reader like The Little Mermaid, Princess and the Pea, etc which are fun to read too.

Breakdown:
30% Midterm
40% Final
10% Mock Trial
20% Section Attendance/Presentation

Midterm: It’s based on the readings and very little lecture material. Pretty easy.

Final: Easy. He gives it to you on the last day of class, and there’s even an extra credit question, which basically everybody gets.

Mock Trial: This is actually kinda fun. You can either be part of the trial or be on the jury (which was everyone else) and write a 2-3 page paper about the trial. You don’t have to write the paper if you are in the trial. The paper is simple and most people did really well.

Section Attendance/Presentation: Attendance is mandatory, so just show up. Every section, 4-5 people present on a certain topic. You can present just about anything, as long as it is remotely related to Scandinavia. At least 1-2 presentations each week were interesting so section was worth it. You only have to present once, so get it done early, and you can chill the rest of the quarter.

Bottomline: Take this class if you want something easy to balance a hard schedule. The only thing I didn’t like was Wen’s analysis of the readings. He just repeats the same thing over and over again, and he isn’t as coherent when talking about the readings. Then again, there usually isn’t much to the readings. We pretty much got dismissed early every day. haha

Wen is HOT....i enjoyed going to class everyday and learning about Scandinavian literature so long as I got to see his beautiful face.

I love his freckles and his dorky personality

he's 35 but looks 25...and his class is entertaining but not as interesting as Denmark!!

I got an A for the class, but I gained something much more valuable....a glimpse of a divine creature called WEN

This was my favorite class the entire year, and it wasn't because I didn't do any work but still received an A+. Of the 5 or 6 assigned readings, I read 2 books and a couple of the short stories. I didn't read only because it was time-consuming, but going to lecture assured that I missed nothing that appeared on the midterm or final. Pat is an interesting lecturer; he has a great sense of humor. I think I missed only two lectures throughout the entire quarter because it was such a fun class. I highly recommend taking Scand 50 with Wen.

This class was very interesting, the readings were great. professor Wen is really cool, the tests are straight forward. Mostly everyone gets A's or B's. If you read and go to lecture you can do well without studying much. I took this class with chem 30B, LS4 and Math 30A: it turned out being the bright spot.

One of the best classes. I loved allllll of the reading, and was actually seriously interested in everything that he had to say. Also, he doesn't really focus on tests so much: he told us at the beginning of the quarter that there would be 2 (maybe 3) pop quizes, but there only ended up being one rather easy quiz. Plus, the midterm and final are a breeze if you just go to class and pay attention, which is pretty easy since each class varies from day to day. The movies are great, the reading's awesome. Word to the wise, get a head start on Smilla's Sense of Snow, cause reading that thing in 2 days was NOT as fun as it seems. Highly recommend this class and this prof!