I think she is very intelligent, very gifted, and definitely knows what she's talking about. However, I think that there are a lot of things that she could improve about this class.
Good things:
- I liked the readings. They were interesting and weren't conventional "white" authors.
- discussions were LONG but engaging and interesting.
class was only an hour (ish).
Bad things:
- a lot of reading. You HAVE to do the readings for the most part because sometimes in class she'll call on random people to interpret the readings or give them their opinion (and this was so nerve-wracking, if you don't read and she calls on you, G bless).
- she is not a good lecturer. no slides or pictures are provided, and she can be unclear about the concepts she talks about. she expects you to just listen and absorb everything, but not everyone can learn that way.
- she wasn't understanding of the fact that not everybody can read the books / works all the time because we have midterms for other classes.
- she is very very opinionated. which isn't a bad thing on its own, but if you offer an interpretation of a work that she doesn't like, she'll disregard it (even though she herself said that literature itself is subjective due to the audience's variety in culture, history, and language).
- the grading. don't get less than a B on an essay cuz it could screw up your grade for the class.

The discussion sessions are definitely way more important than the lectures, participation during discussions are a huge chunk of your grade. There are three papers in total, two for the midterms and one for the final. The midterm papers are 4 pages while the final paper is 6. The weekly readings are super important, and make sure to do them or you won't have anything to say during the discussions. Overall, I would take this class again with Professor Arondekar, she's funny and witty and the lectures were engaging and very insightful. I really liked that the materials came from all over the world, not just the west.

If you're looking for a Writing II GE, literally any GE would be better!

If you want to get publicly shamed in front of an entire lecture hall for not doing a reading, this is the class for you! This professor literally did this to some students in the class and made them leave in the middle of a lecture. This is her main tactic to ensure you do A LOT of reading for each lecture.

As for the grading, it is 50% for 2 papers and 25% for participation and 25% for the final paper. The grading is all about the TA so you better pray to get a good one or you're in real trouble.

Her lectures are literally her talking for an hour with no slides or any visual aids. If you aren't an auditory learner, good luck! For those who must take this class as Comparative Literature majors, I'd look to another professor to save yourself the pain.