Professor Lyons is great, very knowledgable and funny. The class isn't too hard, and the grading in fairly generous. It's important to keep up with the reading, but there isn't that much so it's not too hard.

Professor Lyons is hands down the best professor for FREN 3032, mostly due to his intelligence on the subject and the better grades. He is a yale-educated professor and knows pretty much everything on this subject. When you're in this class, it may seem very difficult to get an A, especially when discussing the very dense and old readings he gives out. However, stick with it and try very hard on writing assignments as well as the final exam. He is a very helpful and nice guy, and it should help your grade to go visit his office hours. As for content, I was personally not a fan as I am not a literature person. However, Lyons forces you to talk in class by calling on you - so you can get good practice with speaking. I took this class only because I needed it for the minor. However, this class did help me with speaking about texts in French. Take this class with Lyons for sure. I got an A in the class and it is defintely possible to do the same by doing readings and taking this class seriously

John Lyons is a brilliant academic and very enjoyable teacher. If you enjoy insightful commentary and discussion, this class is perfect. Regardless of whether or not you are a fan of literature, you will learn, purely by observing and listening to Lyons, how to write and articulate yourself more effectively. The reading was very light, and course was very manageable. Definitely recommend.

Professor Lyons is awesome. I was nervous about taking a reading and writing class, but he is an incredibly fair and interesting teacher. He is very smart and engages everyone in lecture, so prepare to be called on. There are 4-5 writing assignments with revisions, which he grades generously since he cares more about content than grammar perfection.

One of the best profs at UVa. Hope he doesn't retire any time soon!!

He can be really boring but he's nice. There's not too much work. He gives vocab quizzes every so often, and you have to read every week, but never more than 10 pages.