Spring 2027

Topic in Literary or Cultural Theory

Explores methods and principles of criticism by applying specific critical theories to English and American literature, with varying content each term.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Frederic Neyrat3.5/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ramzi Fawaz

The class material was described as really difficult, with a high difficulty rating from past students.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and critique a topic related to literary or cultural theory.

  • Investigate the methods and principles of criticism related to a body of literature in English.

  • Identify and apply methods and approaches for analysis of literary and cultural texts to demonstrate literature's contemporary and historical relevance.

  • Leverage writing as a mode of learning and means of conveying critical analysis.

  • Analyze relationships among society, literature, and language that underlie the construction of beliefs.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ENGL 559

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.41/5 from 41 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.79 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

FREDERIC NEYRAT is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RAMZI FAWAZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 002Online Only0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ramzi Fawaz

Historical student feedback described the material as difficult but noted that class discussions were helpful and made the content relevant to students' lives.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2022: 3.79 GPA, 91.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Fall 2023: 3.91 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.74 GPA, 79.5% A/AB (n=44 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ramzi Fawaz

The class material was described as really difficult, with a high difficulty rating from past students.

Past student reviews · Ramzi Fawaz

Professor Fawaz explained things in a way relevant to students' lives and called people out respectfully to ensure learning.

Topics

  • Methods and principles of criticism
  • Critical methods and presuppositions
  • English and American literature

Skills

  • Application of critical methods and presuppositions to literature.
  • Analysis of literary and cultural texts for contemporary and historical relevance.
  • Analyzing relationships among society, literature, and language.

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2024

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2024 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1330 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ENGL 559 · Spring 2027

Topic in Literary or Cultural Theory

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENGL 559 · Spring 2027

Translationships

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "credits_min": 3,
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    "title": "Translationships",
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "854ee1e0ec622c2dd50c0d10fe674071be0f71cb0b7f89e7f4524dca555e38e1",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}