Give me your hands, if we be friends

Unbelievable. We're done. Through. Finito. Ende. Odysseus is back in Ithaka. Quixote is Quexana again. Hamlet Prime has been avenged. Lizzy and Charles Darcy are living happily ever after. Dante's been to Hell and back. We've suffered though Montaigne's kidney stones and sailed out to the lighthouse. We've seen Leonidas stand and Troy fall. Oedipus and Raskolnikov have learned their lessons. Achilles has made his choice and so has Lt. Cross. Socrates has told us his secrets; Hamlet has kept his.

It's been my great pleasure and absolute privilege to be Virgil to your Dante, Don Quixote to your Sancho. Thank you for your good humor and willingness to play along. I looked forward to our sessions every week and would sign up, in a heartbeat, to take another ride with you all.

If you'd like to leave a thought or two about the course as a whole, please use the comments thread here to do so.

Wishing you all the best here at Columbia and undiscovered happiness out there on the wine-dark sea, 

Jeff

I have no chair, nor church nor philosophy;
I lead no man to a dinner-table or library or exchange,
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
My left hand hooks you around the waist,
My right hand point to landscapes of continents, and a plain public
road.

Not I, not anyone else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it yourself.

It is not far...it is within reach...

-Uncle Walt

Comments

[OlaJ]

Thank you, Virgil, for making me an English major.

<3

[Evan J. Biederstedt]

How’s the job search going Virgil?

[Karen Woodin]

wow, uncle walt almost made me cry

[Jeff]

Eh, this Virgil is in job-search Purgatorio, with the guys with boulders on their backs.

Also, just for clarity. Uncle Walt is Walt Whitman. But we's tight me and WW.

[Christine Yeh]

Thank you, Jeff, for being an awesome instructor! Although I had some doubts about Lit Hum at the very beginning of the year in terms of the merits of literature, I found myself reassessing my initial reaction. The works we've read and our great discussions have generally been wonderfully thought-provoking and have spurred me to seek out more by certain authors (Dostoevsky and Woolf especially). Please stay at Columbia, Jeff!

[Tyler Halpin-Healy]

So, I'd have to say that unless my CC professor is the Almighty himself, he will pale in comparison. But on the other hand, this was the only course that kept me sane in the dark woods of pre-med courses. I'll miss this class.

[Tracey L]

^Yeah seriously

[melissa im]

After watching the Varsity Show and feeling like a true Columbian when I understood every joke... there was a scene when a transfer from Cornell simply likes a book without cause or reason... which the professor finds absolutely ridiculous.

It made me think of what Lit Hum and Jeff's class whatever it might be that made me think beyond that step of just liking a book, to understanding why.

You don't just hate a book to hate it or like a book to like it. And if you have those feelings Jeff would be the one to help you figure out why.

So thanks Jeff for facilitating or.... creating a place where we could really speak our minds and figure out how we felt about each of the text... instead of spoon feeding us some spark noted analysis.

something will resonate and hopefully I can take some of this to CC.

At least Zach will be with me.

[Jennifer H.]

I could have sworn Darcy's first name is Fitzwilliam and not Charles.

[Jeff]

Jennifer, you are correct.
This is one of those mistakes I've been making for years and cannot shake. I get the name confused with Charles Darnay, the main love-interest in A Tale of Two Cities, a favorite from my adolescence. The hybrid "Charles Darcy" is apparently hard-wired. My apologies.

[Sierra Hills]

Jeff, so I CULPA'd you before the first day of Lit Hum, and as right as they were, they didn't fully prepare me for the class. I mean that in a good way. No a great way. Thanks for making this class actually worth something. So many people complain about Lit Hum being pointless, no real discussions, long papers about somethin lame, but it wasn't like that in class with you. It wasn't a failure : p

[Lulu Garcia]

As stalkerish as this may sound, my plan for next semester was to wait until they posted the CC instructor's names and then sign up for your class again. Don't leave us Jeff! It'll never be the same!

I'm really going to miss you though. A LOT. I even joined your facebook group. ;)

[Thomas Sun]

Thanks for being so patient with me all year!

Thanks for the dishonesty as well. Proof: "I looked forward to our sessions every week and would sign up, in a heartbeat, to take another ride with you all." vs. "this Virgil is in job-search." Not sure why you would leave if you wanted to be with us...

PPS: Have you tried applying to the architecture school? You draw amazing diagrams ^^

[Mike]

Jeff, I really appreciate how cool of a teacher you are. You're basically my only teacher who is approachable enough for me to present multiple writing samples to, and I am thankful for that. Also, the LitHum curriculum seemed daunting at first, but with your guidance, we made it through, and it was actually a pretty fun ride.

Thanks for being a great Virgil, and you have to stay at Columbia; you can't let other schools gain an upper-hand on us by adding you to their faculty.

[Elisabeth Fabila]

Oh gosh Jeff, what do I say? I feel privileged to have been a part of this class. I have a deep appreciation of literature now, thanks to you.

I wouldn't mind journeying through these works again. Thanks Jeff. The experience has been an invaluable one.

[Elisabeth Fabila]

PS-Don't ever forget us Columbians when you go on to Princeton...we won't forget you!

[Erik Zambrano]

Jeff

I think you are a good teacher. You live in Brooklyn. That's pretty gangster. In the words of Jim Jones, "Keep your head up and your eyes open".

-EZ

[Zach Lundin]

You stink. Stop making me all emotional and shit.

From "Shortbus:"

"Submission vs. Domination, Black and White, it's not as simple, relationships are much more complex than that!"
"Are you saying that I can't understand your relationship with your father who 'watched' you because I'm a dominatrix?"
"Well...yes!"
"That's really funny, because you're a sex therapist who can't have an orgasm!"

Thank you everyone for challenging me on who I think I am and making me better at what I want to be and not letting me complacently become something else.

For some of us, this is just the beginning, and for some of us, we'll just pass one another on college walk and think about how we were in Lit Hum together. Be that as it may, you've all said something to me this year that has changed the way I felt and/or thought about life.

thank you.

[Jeff]

You guys > Me. Not even close. 90% of my job was done when you all showed up the first day in September.

And Thomas, my desire to stay does not therefore make it a reality. I sincerely wish it was that simple. I'm flattered that my future whereabouts are of such concern, but don't worry, I'll be around the city somewhere or other.

[Eric Rosenberg]

rofl. Charles Darcy. I keep wanting to write that too! You're definitely right Jeff. it's Charles Darnay from Dickens I keep getting confused with. Fitzwilliam is so not the right name for him. Austen messed up big time.

Thanks for everything!

[Annie Tan]

Long late, but better late than never.

Overall it was a great course: thanks for facilitating so well, especially in a school environment where people feel they have to hate on stuff all the time (like someone said about the Varsity show). it's hard to come into a class in the school and look forward to it, and I have--partially cuz of everyone being so totally awesome and partially cuz you've been great to us. Thanks for everything, Jeff! see you tomorrow! for the last time ;(