PhD entry #3
I might have underestimated how difficult this was gonna be.
That is slightly incorrect actually: I expected a PhD to be challenging, I didn't expect the challenge to be myself. Allow me explain, because I thought that I would have a ton of research to do and lots of articles to read and that I would feel like in the time it'd take me to get up to speed, ten more books on the subject would've come out. That may be true, but the real problem is I'm a lazy sloth of a student. Without deadlines looming over me, I find no incentive to do any proper writing. I jot down notes here and there, post-its and half-paragraphs, but have I gotten anywhere with the first chapter I'm supposed to be writing? Nope.
With that in mind, I believe it is high time I figured out a way out of this conundrum. Part of the problem stems from the lack of guidance: I'm supposed to write chapter upon chapter, but really, the BIG QUESTION is a bit too big to be of any assistance in the day to day writing. So maybe I should break the chapters down into essays, each with their own question to answer that will (I hope) feed into the big themes of the thesis proper.
My thesis being the changing perspective on villains that fairy tale narratives have experienced over time. Cool. Now, the first thorny chapter - my supervisor suggested - should be on Charles Perrault, given that I've elected to focus on his tales and the rest of the French tradition. What question are we answering here then?
Options:
1. What prompted C.P. to start writing fairy tales in 1697, and why was he successful?
2. The fairy tales of C.P. are among the most recognisable ones in the canon; what contributed to their popularity beyond 17th-century France?
3. Perrault vs The Grimms: tales were rejected by the brothers when considered 'too French', yet there are many similar stories in both French and German traditions. Discuss.
4. Perrault vs The Grimms Redux: tales were rejected by the brothers when considered 'too French', yet where exactly was C.P. digging for his narratives?
It occurs to me that none of these questions include the word villain and/or force me to talk about the villains in the tales. The first two could lead to discussing the antagonists to talk about the success and popularity of the stories. The Grimm comparison ones could also turn into a consideration of the similarities or differences between the villains in C.P. and in the Grimms' fairy tales. Perhaps, were these questions for a real essay in a real university course, the fact that I'd choose to talk about the villains would be what they'd call the 'focus' of my essays.
That is slightly incorrect actually: I expected a PhD to be challenging, I didn't expect the challenge to be myself. Allow me explain, because I thought that I would have a ton of research to do and lots of articles to read and that I would feel like in the time it'd take me to get up to speed, ten more books on the subject would've come out. That may be true, but the real problem is I'm a lazy sloth of a student. Without deadlines looming over me, I find no incentive to do any proper writing. I jot down notes here and there, post-its and half-paragraphs, but have I gotten anywhere with the first chapter I'm supposed to be writing? Nope.
With that in mind, I believe it is high time I figured out a way out of this conundrum. Part of the problem stems from the lack of guidance: I'm supposed to write chapter upon chapter, but really, the BIG QUESTION is a bit too big to be of any assistance in the day to day writing. So maybe I should break the chapters down into essays, each with their own question to answer that will (I hope) feed into the big themes of the thesis proper.
My thesis being the changing perspective on villains that fairy tale narratives have experienced over time. Cool. Now, the first thorny chapter - my supervisor suggested - should be on Charles Perrault, given that I've elected to focus on his tales and the rest of the French tradition. What question are we answering here then?
Options:
1. What prompted C.P. to start writing fairy tales in 1697, and why was he successful?
2. The fairy tales of C.P. are among the most recognisable ones in the canon; what contributed to their popularity beyond 17th-century France?
3. Perrault vs The Grimms: tales were rejected by the brothers when considered 'too French', yet there are many similar stories in both French and German traditions. Discuss.
4. Perrault vs The Grimms Redux: tales were rejected by the brothers when considered 'too French', yet where exactly was C.P. digging for his narratives?
It occurs to me that none of these questions include the word villain and/or force me to talk about the villains in the tales. The first two could lead to discussing the antagonists to talk about the success and popularity of the stories. The Grimm comparison ones could also turn into a consideration of the similarities or differences between the villains in C.P. and in the Grimms' fairy tales. Perhaps, were these questions for a real essay in a real university course, the fact that I'd choose to talk about the villains would be what they'd call the 'focus' of my essays.