some brushes with academic trouble
In case you are wondering, my upgrading interview was unsatisfactory. The examiners were unconvinced that the chapter I submitted was relevant to the topic of my thesis (though my supervisor thought otherwise), and that my introduction was poorly structured. I was given the choices to either pursue a MPhil degree instead, or resubmit another chapter in three month's time. Straight after the interview, I had an 'emergency' meeting with my supervisor, and another one with the director of graduate studies the following week. I don't know what got into my head at that moment, but my instinct was to resubmit. So far this year has been generally brilliant; first the malfunctional relationship, then this collapsing academic career. And yes, I do know the words, 'put things into perspective' and 'take the good times and the bad'. All in all, it's not too bad, but it's not great either. Months ago I've also submitted a paper for a conference, and should be heading north on Saturday. To be honest, I'm not too enthusiastic about the event, but I should prepare for it anyways. I'm not entirely sure what it is that keeps me going in research, when I often feel that the subject is beyond my reach. Yet have a gander at Lisa Jardine's view on the recent pay dispute, especially her example of how a student found a small book on the art of translation published in 1559--'By looking at Harvey's marginal notes, the student had recovered an animated debate between reader and author about how imaginative and free one was entitled to be in turning a text from an ancient language into a modern one'. I guess this sort of explains my motive.