If you're a pre-med like me and care about you're GPA, do not take this professor for Writing II. I worked my ass off this quarter, but I just got a B. I was thinking I was in the A- to A range though. The grading is collective work between the professor and TA's, so I doubt there would be an easy/lenient TA. Otherwise, if you don't mind getting a B, go ahead and take her because the workload is normal and she is nice as well as the TA's. But damn... I'm pissed

Super dope class. Learned a lot about Kafka. Assignments is just one Kafka story per week plus two discussion questions, and you write your own Kafkaesque story at the end. Professor is very nice and funny!

STEM major here! This class is all about understanding what your TA wants from you in your essays. I didn't attend a single lecture but got A's on all my essays once I understood what my TA personally liked in essays (the rubric the professor gives is very vague) so ask your TA questions! Not all of the books are required to be written about either, out of 9 books I probably read 4 and got away with it. If you do choose to write about a book though make sure you have read it, unfortunately Sparknotes will not suffice for this class. Good luck!

It has been a year, and I finally realized I never reviewed this class. In a way, I think I can better contextualize my thoughts now that I have taken many more classes at UCLA. As far as a literature seminar, it's very self-explanatory. We sat in a circle and discussed for 50 minutes once a week. The Kafka stories were interesting, and we even got to write our own as the final assignment. If I'm being honest, I did not love this class very much. It is highly dependent on the enthusiasm of the students because of the seminar nature, but Professor Komar was not very good at facilitating discussion. She just lacked the ability to guide students toward their own answers by asking thought provoking questions. I brought up a point with another student and she kind of shut us down. I'm not sure if she was uncomfortable with the subject matter or just didn't have anything to add, but it rubbed me the wrong way. If you really like Kafka, I don't see why you necessarily shouldn't take this class, but I was a little disappointed with the approach to the readings and discussion.

I took this class as a freshman (in the classroom full of upperclassman and graduate students) for my comparative literature minor. The grading consists of attendance, one midterm paper, and one final paper. It's not a hard class and professor Komar makes the materials accessable

This class is a TON of reading, but lecture isn't mandatory. Listen to the audiobooks to prepare for tests. Interesting, but challenging.

Kafka Fiat Lux:

Take this class if you like Kafka and like talking about existential stuff and all the crazy things Kafka thought up. Komar is a great professor and knows a lot about Kafka, and chose good stories to read. The class is pretty simple and isn't a ton of reading a week, and the kafkaesque story at the end is fun. I recommend as a fun Fiat Lux.

For full review of the class and more description, see my doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15vILblHwWrnV7KnB-sOFzTRnQE2QPA7nmHxj4gdNKBU/edit?usp=sharing

Take this class if you like Kafka and like talking about existential stuff and all the crazy things Kafka thought up. Komar is a great professor and knows a lot about Kafka, and chose good stories to read. The class is pretty simple and isn't a ton of reading a week, and the kafkaesque story at the end is fun. I recommend as a fun Fiat Lux.

For full review of the class and more description, see my doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15vILblHwWrnV7KnB-sOFzTRnQE2QPA7nmHxj4gdNKBU/edit?usp=sharing

This class was absolutely wonderful as a STEM major that loves to read. The course consisted of a reading (50-100 pages) every week, 4 papers that increased in length as the quarter went on, and an in-class essay for the midterm. The readings weren't enforced, but you will discuss them in section and write about them for the papers, so I think it's best to have an idea of each book's plot. I personally enjoyed the readings and got a lot out of them, but you can also probably scrape by just reading the spark notes. All of the essays were graded by the TAs before the strike, and the professor was very accommodating by making the final essay no-hurt due to the strike. Get Jake Wilder-Smith as your TA if possible; he was brilliant and left the most detailed, constructive feedback I've EVER received on my essays. Professor Komar was a wonderful lecturer, and so passionate about the material it was contagious.

TLDR; take this class if you don't mind reading and writing, and you will get a lot out of it.

DONT TAKE FOR YOUR WRITING 2 IF YOURE TRYING TO GET AN A!!!!!
As a straight A STEM student, this was my first B at UCLA (and I worked my ass off for this class). I went to every lecture, every discussion, almost every office hour, and I would write my papers far in advance and talk to the professor about it. The workload was mediocre but I often felt lost on essays, couldn’t understand the readings, and prompts were very abstract. You have readings at all times and all of them classics making it super hard to even understand what was going on. I will say Professor Komar was engaging and sweet, but I cannot say that the grading made sense or the essays were clearly outlined. Professor and TAs always said “prompts are just to inspire your writing, don’t answer all the questions,” but then looked for pretty specific answers that students had to reach for. I loved Professor Komar as a teacher and as a person, however, as someone who cares about their grades, I do not recommend this class.