Friday, August 26, 2005
Bog
So much to write, so little time. So here's the plan. . .I'll clean my apartment on Sunday and then write a couple of blog entries. I'll either post them all at once or in pieces (so YOU don't get bogged down too with reading them). Sound like a good plan? I think so. That way we catch up the story. Have a feeling there will be lots to talk about. lol Life is full again (wait, when isn't it?).
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Comprehensive Exams
Comps are a modern torture device, they really are. I feel like a circus dog who only has three legs but is still expected to jump through flaming hoops. Why do I only have three legs? Because one got caught in a hoop in January and was burnt to a cinder. So, yesterday I had to redo that hoop and I think my fur is singed. We'll see.
Anyway, I suppose I should explain the comps process for my particular area here. I am in comparative literature. All of my coursework is done. So, my current step is to pass my comprehensive exams so that I can write my dissertation. Now, the comps consist of two parts: written and oral. The written part has three sections: 1) theory (mine is mythological and psychoanalytic), 2) outside literature area (British/French/American fantasy), 3) dissertation topic (Shakespeare, Jean Racine, Pierre & Thomas Corneille). I was given 4 questions per section and 2 hours per section to answer 2 questions from my choices. Yeah, I know, not a whole heck of a lot of time, especially when you have no idea what could be asked from the copious amounts of material. You can't write great work but you can at least show you know what you're talking about. Now, I took the written in January and screwed up my outside area. Which, for anyone who knows me is kind of ironic since that is mostly what I read and have been doing so for the past umpteen years.
The problem was two-fold. On one hand, I was so worried about screwing up the other (and what I thought of as tougher) sections that I didn't worry about that one since I know the lit. And there is the other part of the problem. . .I thought that I was supposed to prove that I know the LITERATURE. That's all that is on my book list for that section (overall I have about 80 books on my comps list to know). Nope, needed to know more theory. Well, fantasy theory is relatively new in a sense. . .the father of it is Tzvetan Todorov who wrote the book in the 1950s. I said in a sense because you can obviously glean certain fantastic theoretical elements from 19th century authors on poetry and prose. But the main theory didn't really hit until Todorov. Well, he was the only real fantasy theorist on my list. The rest were more myth based (which, again, is part of fantasy theory but it only focuses on that one area and not on what makes modern fantasy what it is per se). Well, I have never had a class on fantasy literature. I belong to International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and the Lord Ruthven Assembly (which can be found via the iafa link) and have given papers there over the past 4 years (I missed one out of the past five conferences because I was in France in 2003). But most of my papers have been comparative things that have not relied upon fantastic theory: 2001: A Space Odyssey compared to Anne Mcaffrey's Pegasus trilogy; an exploration of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; an exploration of Caliban in various versions of The Tempest; a comparison of Charlotte Perkins Gilman'sThe Yellow Wallpaper and Peter Straub's Ashputtle.
Anyway, I was also clueless on how to approach that section because my only advice on studying in general for the comps had been, "Make lists." Okie dokie. So, I focused my energy on the other two sections and screwed up the third. Oh, it was completely fair that they made me redo the exam. My answers on that section (especially the second question) sucked air. I was completely exhausted by the time I took that part and my brain went into complete meltdown by the time I attempted the second question. So, it was all fair.
So, yeah, yesterday was finally the retake. How did I do? I have no freaking clue (sorry for the rhyme). My nerves kicked in after I was done and I started panicking that I sucked again. Cause if that is true. . .I'm out. No more chances. Yuck. Did I do better than last time? Definitely. Will it be enough? Dunno. Hopefully so cause it would be really crappy to be ousted on my outside area. So, now I get to do the hurry up and wait plan.
In the meantime I will plug on with my work. Should they deign to let me move on to the orals, I will have to take them in a month which means I need to get cracking on how to defend myself. Just want to get to that part so I can show I know the stuff (which I do) better than what is represented in 8 pages of cram writing. (yes, I can type really fast when I need to) Classes start on Thursday and I have a day long meeting tomorrow (yippee fun). Actually, I'm glad classes are starting because now I'll have a set schedule. And maybe I'll have more stuff for this here blog.
Anyway, I suppose I should explain the comps process for my particular area here. I am in comparative literature. All of my coursework is done. So, my current step is to pass my comprehensive exams so that I can write my dissertation. Now, the comps consist of two parts: written and oral. The written part has three sections: 1) theory (mine is mythological and psychoanalytic), 2) outside literature area (British/French/American fantasy), 3) dissertation topic (Shakespeare, Jean Racine, Pierre & Thomas Corneille). I was given 4 questions per section and 2 hours per section to answer 2 questions from my choices. Yeah, I know, not a whole heck of a lot of time, especially when you have no idea what could be asked from the copious amounts of material. You can't write great work but you can at least show you know what you're talking about. Now, I took the written in January and screwed up my outside area. Which, for anyone who knows me is kind of ironic since that is mostly what I read and have been doing so for the past umpteen years.
The problem was two-fold. On one hand, I was so worried about screwing up the other (and what I thought of as tougher) sections that I didn't worry about that one since I know the lit. And there is the other part of the problem. . .I thought that I was supposed to prove that I know the LITERATURE. That's all that is on my book list for that section (overall I have about 80 books on my comps list to know). Nope, needed to know more theory. Well, fantasy theory is relatively new in a sense. . .the father of it is Tzvetan Todorov who wrote the book in the 1950s. I said in a sense because you can obviously glean certain fantastic theoretical elements from 19th century authors on poetry and prose. But the main theory didn't really hit until Todorov. Well, he was the only real fantasy theorist on my list. The rest were more myth based (which, again, is part of fantasy theory but it only focuses on that one area and not on what makes modern fantasy what it is per se). Well, I have never had a class on fantasy literature. I belong to International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and the Lord Ruthven Assembly (which can be found via the iafa link) and have given papers there over the past 4 years (I missed one out of the past five conferences because I was in France in 2003). But most of my papers have been comparative things that have not relied upon fantastic theory: 2001: A Space Odyssey compared to Anne Mcaffrey's Pegasus trilogy; an exploration of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; an exploration of Caliban in various versions of The Tempest; a comparison of Charlotte Perkins Gilman'sThe Yellow Wallpaper and Peter Straub's Ashputtle.
Anyway, I was also clueless on how to approach that section because my only advice on studying in general for the comps had been, "Make lists." Okie dokie. So, I focused my energy on the other two sections and screwed up the third. Oh, it was completely fair that they made me redo the exam. My answers on that section (especially the second question) sucked air. I was completely exhausted by the time I took that part and my brain went into complete meltdown by the time I attempted the second question. So, it was all fair.
So, yeah, yesterday was finally the retake. How did I do? I have no freaking clue (sorry for the rhyme). My nerves kicked in after I was done and I started panicking that I sucked again. Cause if that is true. . .I'm out. No more chances. Yuck. Did I do better than last time? Definitely. Will it be enough? Dunno. Hopefully so cause it would be really crappy to be ousted on my outside area. So, now I get to do the hurry up and wait plan.
In the meantime I will plug on with my work. Should they deign to let me move on to the orals, I will have to take them in a month which means I need to get cracking on how to defend myself. Just want to get to that part so I can show I know the stuff (which I do) better than what is represented in 8 pages of cram writing. (yes, I can type really fast when I need to) Classes start on Thursday and I have a day long meeting tomorrow (yippee fun). Actually, I'm glad classes are starting because now I'll have a set schedule. And maybe I'll have more stuff for this here blog.
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