Monday 26 September 2011
Tutorial: change of plans! :D
Dear reader,
First of all, I apologize for the lack of blog posts. I have been insanely busy lately and I have just recovered from the flu. It does not really seem like there is going to be an end to all the things that I need to do any time soon though T_T... However, I will try to post as often as I can.
The subject of the post is a change in the tutorial that I blogged about some time ago. I had my first meeting with my teacher after summer break last week and he gave me two options: (1) I could continue with the reading list I had created.... or (2) I could start to narrow it down and work towards an article and strive to get it published. Well, obviously I went for the second choice! :D I am so excited! He said that I could of course also give a paper at a conference before getting the article published... so I might get that experience as well.
Topic wise there has been a slight change. Since I have already been focusing on time and space in relation to deathbed scenes and death en sich, I really needed to delve into the realm of the afterlife in Victorian literature. For after all, most Victorians were religious. I want to investigate how heaven and hell were portrayed, specifically in prose, since other scholars have primarily placed their focus on poetry. When looking at how time and space are portrayed in the descriptions of heave or hell, it will be interesting to see if writers try to undermine this idea of death here as well.
Next to heaven and hell I will also be looking into spirituality and ghost stories. Perhaps with these stories I will be able to make my point about the untemporality and non-space of death come across more strongly. Also it will be interesting to see how these stories could exist in a time that people were very religious. How does Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, for example, tie in with Christian belief? Does it undermine the idea of heaven or hell, or can it be explained in a religious sense after all? This latter question might prove to be a complete detour, but if it is; who knows? I might be able to use it for my MA-thesis or so.
My thesis supervisor has asked me to write a sort of critical analysis of every secondary source that I read. I am currently rereading Heaven, Hell and the Victorians by Michael Wheeler in order to help me compile a bibliography and to get a clearer overview of the views that Victorians had on heaven and hell. I will be posting the critical analyses of all the books that I review on my weblog for those of you who are interested. Perhaps my research can be of help to some others... One never knows!
Well that is it for today. A second post detailing the bibliography of the books that I will be reading will follow shortly. As for now, it is back to homework for me!
Love,
Blacky
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2 comments:
Wauw dat klinkt als heel veel maar heel leuk werk :).
:D Nou dat is het ook hoor! Maar echt vooral veel werk hahaha.
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