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<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Anne-Marie Lindsay wrote: “I left official Woolf
scholarship in part because I was not handling my mental illness during graduate
school.”</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Very wise.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>I think it’s very foolish to struggle with mental problems and a
PhD.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although there is an
increasing tendency to structure PhDs (especially in the USA), it is a lonely
business in the Humanities, and there are sure to be crises (“If I can’t prove
that Tchekhov visited the Black Sea in the summer of 1899, my whole thesis is
going to fall apart”).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What you
need is structure in your life, and a boring 9 to 5 job in an office is going to
be more help to you than the isolation of a PhD.</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We can (unfairly) divide PhD students into 2 extremes:
(1) 1<SUP>st</SUP> class bachelor’s degree in English Literature; graduate
immediately looks around for a PhD topic; (2) mature-age student whose academic
background has been less than straightforward, but has always wanted to do a PhD
on a specific topic.</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Topic (1) “The Plays of Henry Arthur Jones”, for
19<SUP>th</SUP> century theatre has become fashionable for research.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Student will visit England to look at
the prompt books.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Voilà – original
research.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Easy.</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Topic (2) “The problems of prostitution among the
Dalits”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Student argues that these
problems can only be solved by the women’s turning to Christianity.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Perhaps this is so, but how will this
make a PhD?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Much argument and
obstinacy. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Result: an
unsatisfactory research master’s degree as a compromise.</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We are more likely to find the PhD student with
psychological problems in group (2).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The student suffers periodically from anorexia, so naturally wishes to do
PhD on Virginia Woolf’s problems with eating.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Unfortunately, Allie Glenny has recently
done a PhD on this topic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Still,
student knows more about the area than her supervisors, and in her literature
review downgrades Glenny’s thesis and suggests that there is still room for her
to contribute to the topic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Then
Glenny publishes her book “Ravenous Identity”, drawing upon her own “personal
experience of anorexia” (see -- it can be done!).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Student now has no topic.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Seeks advice.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is discovered </FONT><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">that she has a 1<SUP>st</SUP> degree in Spanish.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s excellent.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Reception Studies have become
fashionable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Proposed topic:
“Virginia Woolf’s Reception in South America”.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Proposed topic totally unacceptable to
student who still wishes to do a PhD on Virginia Woolf’s problems with
anorexia.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Disaster
ensues.</FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Stuart</FONT></P>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=amtonyan@gmail.com
href="mailto:amtonyan@gmail.com">Anne-Marie Lindsey</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, June 16, 2012 10:09 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=p.reiche@comcast.net
href="mailto:p.reiche@comcast.net">Laurie Reiche</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu
href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu">Woolf list</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vwoolf] Speculative recuperations of Woolf's
suicide</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">Here's
where I<I> </I>have to jump in to back up Brenda; I left official Woolf
scholarship in part because I was not handling my mental illness during graduate
school. ...</DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>