Current instructor

B. Venkat Mani

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.73/5 from 22 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

GERMAN/LITTRANS 276
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Mani genuinely cares SO much about his students and I have never yet witnessed a professor teach so passionately. If you have the opportunity to take a class with him, go for it!!
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GERMAN/LITTRANS 276
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
TAKE HIS CLASSES. Professor Mani is the kindest most respectful and encouraging professor at UW Madison. He truly cares for everyone one of his students.
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GERMAN/LITTRANS 276
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
This class was already amazing because of the topics discussed- refugees, migration, displacement, memories, trauma, history. However, Professor Venkat Mani is super kind, understanding, and wants everyone to truly engage with the materials. Ive had a great experience in this class, you do need to read but the discussions are valuable.
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GERMAN/LITTRANS 276
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Spring (2021-2022) He is an amazing professor and incredibly caring. The class consists mostly of readings/ movies/ and some music. The midterm/ final we wrote mini essay response to questions but its open note. Lecture is pretty important if you want to get key ideas. Fun part of his class is he uses twitter to allow us to give our reactions.
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GERMAN/LITTRANS 276
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Professor Mani is the best professor I have ever taken. It is a literature class so expect some readings but movies are also assigned sometimes. If you participate frequently, he will love you and class will be a breeze. If you need a non-elementary literature credit, this IS the class to take.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with B. Venkat Mani

GERMAN/LITTRANS 276

Special Topics in German and World Literature/s

3 credits

GERMAN/LITTRANS 276 explores diverse world literary traditions with an emphasis on German and German speaking cultures.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

B. Venkat Mani is praised for his passion, kindness, and care for students, with reviewers noting that his lectures and discussions prepare them well for exams. Students appreciate the engaging topics and open-note assessments. Conversely, an earlier review criticizes his teaching style as condescending and limiting in reading comprehension expectations.

B. Venkat ManiSunny Yudkoff+3 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026GERMAN/LITTRANS 276Special Topics in German and World Literature/s

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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