FREN 3043

This class was awesome. Blatt is the man: knowledgeable, fluent, enthusiastic, funny, personable, keeps the class atmosphere light (important for a French literature class, as he knows). We were only assigned two essays, so the workload was essentially just reading and discussion which was nice. The books assigned were great as well; for example we read some Balzac, Flaubert and Camus. Blatt really loves the material and loves teaching it to his students, and you can tell his goal really is just to make sure you come away with something, not that you improve your vocab or anything. The only downside I saw was the time of the class: 630-745, TTh. Definitely recommended -- take it if you can!

Take this class. Readings are engaging and Blatt is hilarious and smart. Also, he's sexy

This class was one of the best I've taken at UVa. Ari loves the books he teaches, and he makes confusing parts of each book very clear without giving everything away. I learned a lot in this course without being overburdened by work.

Blatt has a good reputation in the French department, and for good reason. He researches and works in French all the time, so he's a lovely speaker and will gently correct you when you make mistakes—he's very polite about it, just wants to help you. Because he has researched so many random fields, he often gets very excited about something and goes off on a little tangent, slipping into English if he gets really worked up! But he's just that kind of professor who loves his subject! Blatt is especially good with literature, which makes him a terrific professor for FREN 3043 where he basically picks 6 or so novels that we all read together over the course of the semester. Just be careful because this entire course is based on reading in French every single week. Grade comes from participation, 1 presentation, 3 short 2-page papers, and one longer final paper. #tCF2020