Thesis

English Major Nerdiness Ahead (consider yourself warned).

General Geekiness

Hipster Beauty & the Beast

This kind of sums up my life at the moment (actually, for the year). But let’s substitute “Foucault” for “Kenneth Burke”. Alas, he is an American theorist, not a French dude. Still, love it.

Some days I wonder why I just didn’t read Foucault for my paper. And then other days, my brain thanks me. And thanks me even more for not reading Derrida. Because I am zombified after Derrida. Burke’s pretty straight forward for a theorist. And I like him for that.

More thesis updates: the paper has been titled. My final draft is due Friday. It will be excellent.

Thesis Update: Nearing the End!

Thesis Updates

It’s all coming together! My supervisor gave me the deadline of “as soon as possible” (meaning Tuesday at the absolute absolute latest) to pass in my draft of the paper.
So that’s good news for me. I’m spending this weekend typing away, finishing and finessing the document. There’s a continual theme of “I have too many ideas for a 40 page paper and presentation, I might as well write a book” running through our discussions. So who knows. Maybe a book will come from all of this.
It’s appropriate that I’m spending what would have been Patrick McGoohan’s birthday writing a paper about his show…I may have to watch “Many Happy Returns” this evening, if I need a break.

Though sometimes I feel like this is a Village of its own, an inescapable place where the end is always *just* in sight.

Though, unlike Number Six, this Village is one that I will be leaving. April 28th…

And the year’s book count is…

What's On the Bookshelf?

Forty-two.

Yes, I know that there are still five days left in 2010, but I doubt that I will finish Les Miserables by then (reading a non-abridged translation…current update is: finished Book One). I’m hoping to finish Les Miserables before I return to school mid-January.

2010 was a good year for me, book reading wise. Way back in middle school, my favorite teacher suggested that I make a list of every book I read. Took a few years, but I finally got around to it. I think it’s a pretty successful exercise, and I’ll be continuing in 2011.

2011, along with having my list of what books I’ve read, will include a list of movies I’ve watched. I considered starting it this October, when I started watching a TON of classic and generally awesome movies. But that list will start January 1st as well.

As for the books I read this year, there were a few stand-outs, particularly in the getting-me-to-be-creative front. First up is Dante’s La Vita Nuova/The New Life. I read The Prince with the thought that Macchiavelli’s work would help with word-building (particularly around the power department), but it was Dante’s reshaping poetry that really stuck.

For sheer captivation, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy really grabbed my attention. I guess that 2010 was the year of the Spy for me, reading three works by John Le Carre, Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale and numerous books on spy television for my epic thesis.

And, to keep me from losing sight on the small things, Alexander McCall Smith’s works. I’ve caught up with his wonderful 44 Scotland Street series and am anxiously awaiting the release of the next one. Plus, I met Mr McCall Smith, which was wonderful.

So, what does 2011 have in store for me? Well, after finishing Victor Hugo’s epic Les Miserables, I have no idea. I want to read some of Len Deighton’s stuff, and will probably read Smiley’s People by John Le Carre (I must know how the Karla saga ends).

Thesis Update: Midpoint Revelations on The Prisoner

Thesis Updates

One week ago tomorrow, I turned in the half completed portion of my thesis (which will probably end up meaning its but a third completed, as I have a lot I still wish to discuss).

A huge relief in passing the thing in. I’ll have roughly a month before jumping back in, but during that month I’ll be rewatching The Prisoner, either for fun or actually picking out arguments for the thesis, along with writing up an appendix with brief descriptions of each episode. Why? Well, its a cult show. I think probably about 7 people on my entire campus have seen it start to finish, and that’s a liberal guess. Unfortunately, if I say I’m writing about The Prisoner, if someone’s heard of it, they assume its the remake. No no no.

I’ve learned three things while writing this first half (all of which can be named with the letter “P”):

Planning

I’m not generally a fly by the seat of my pants person when it comes to writing papers. I need to gather data, make outlines (of a sort) and need an idea before I can really start working.

Persistence

Ah, the essay known as “The Essay of a Thousand Directions.” Each time I met with my supervisor, I had a different topic in mind. “I’ll do a character study of Number 6 using Cambell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces! Oh, I’ll look at the stifling of individuality in The Village! The presentation of The Village as a prison! Ooh! Ooh! New shiny topic! So many topics my supervisor suggested I just write my doctoral dissertation on this…(not going for my doctorate at this time…)

Well, while reading sources and brainstorming, I persisted in my quest to come up with an original topic. Though not my entire paper, I’m looking into the perversion of childhood signs in the show.

For next semester, I’m keeping on target, working hard and finishing this paper up.

Passion

Roughly seven months into this project, and I still enjoy working on it. I still love The Prisoner. I’m happily devoted to this project. It interests me and continues to hold my interest. That, and I care deeply about writing it well.

My friends see this project as bordering on obsessive. So what if it is? It’s fun.

 

Here’s to the upcoming semester. May it be fruitful! And may Christmas break be restful. 🙂

Life as a NaNo Rebel

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters, Thesis Updates

So, November is upon us. And with the falling leaves, brisk wind and blue skies here in Boston comes the season of flying papers, dead highlighters and balding college students. Why balding? We rip our hair out trying to stay sane.

Two years ago I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time and won. I wrote a rather disappointing novel, but I wrote one. The experience showed me that I can write a novel, that it is possible to finish one if I have the proper motivation.

Last year, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to truly participate, so I wrote a short story and called it a day.

This year, it happened to fall that I have three major papers to work on over the month of November. They aren’t due until December, but I figured, why not use NaNo to rebel?

I’m doubling rebelling, as I started writing these early.

And will I reach a total of 50,000 words? I don’t know. Probably not. All I care is that these essays get completed well. And if I’m writing them, might as well take advantage of the little word count chart, eh?

Best of luck to all NaNo-ers, Traditional or Rebels!

TU: Arrival of the Books

Thesis Updates

Well, it turns out that I don’t need to make a trip to Washington to get my books. One of the other school libraries in Boston had them, and now I do, too.

So, hurray! I can now spend my days finishing my preliminary research and revising my proposal. I still need to determine which theoretical lens I’m going to examine The Prisoner through. I’m leaning very heavily towards postmodernism, someone like Foucault. But I think I will reread Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage before I return to school in September.

Lots of reading ahead of me! And I still need to finish watching Danger Man.

For fun, I’m reading John le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and enjoying that very much.