Robert Cohen

Robert Cohen is an intelligent, quirky professor, and tends to regularly drop shockingly poetic lines in the middle of the average lecture. He gave fair, honest, and direct criticism of writing brought to in-class workshop, and was flexible about deadlines when extenuating circumstances were present. One thing I will note is that there was little diversity or variety in the types of short stories he selected for our weekly readings—they typically centered around white male characters acting in questionable (or outright problematic) ways in domestic settings, and most had relatively disturbing and/or depressing throughlines. They weren't necessarily bad stories; however, distinct themes were consistently present, and I think anyone looking to take the course should be aware of this ahead of time.

Robert Cohen is an intelligent, quirky professor, and tends to regularly drop shockingly poetic lines in the middle of the average lecture. He gave fair, honest, and direct criticism of writing brought to in-class workshop, and was flexible about deadlines when extenuating circumstances were present. One thing I will note is that the …Read more

I really love Professor Cohen. He's passionate about the literature and dives into what questions the writers were exploring and key passages that don't immediately seem important. The readings are all fascinating, but there's a lot of it. We read about a novel a week, and it's all dense. He's a very easy grader, though, and there are just an essay or two for assignments, so it's a class that's simple to do well in. If you want to get a lot out of it, though, it takes a lot of effort. I always read closely and still feel like I should have paid more attention.

I really love Professor Cohen. He's passionate about the literature and dives into what questions the writers were exploring and key passages that don't immediately seem important. The readings are all fascinating, but there's a lot of it. We read about a novel a week, and it's all dense. He's a very easy grader, though, and there ar …Read more

This class was pretty straightforward. We read a new book each week and then discussed it in class. Most of the time, the professor did most of the talking, and while a few students would join in, the discussions usually went in the direction he wanted. He clearly had strong opinions about the books and stuck to them, which made it harder to share different takes. That said, I actually liked the professor overall. He was knowledgeable and passionate, even if a bit rigid in his views. The workload wasn’t bad at all. You can honestly get through the class without reading anything, since the papers are short, easy, and not graded too harshly. As someone who isn’t really a reader or a writer, I still found the class manageable and interesting enough.

This class was pretty straightforward. We read a new book each week and then discussed it in class. Most of the time, the professor did most of the talking, and while a few students would join in, the discussions usually went in the direction he wanted. He clearly had strong opinions about the books and stuck to them, which made it h …Read more