dissertation

Here's a warning: this post is about the potential epic boringness that is a Master's dissertation from Oxford. I am not--I think--motivated by the stereotypical academic, self-inflated sense that people ought to read my writing. Rather, my last post about my work got a pretty decent response, and as it happens, I wrote about something pretty accessible, so it doesn't require a lot of icky specialised theory nonsense.

My dissertation, which is here, is about Alice in Wonderland mostly. It's a study of Darwinism in Carroll's writing, particularly how the concept of natural selection relates to Carroll's writings about size. Essentially, I argue that Alice herself undergoes a specific personal evolution: at Wonderland's outset, she sees size in this childish bigger-is-better sort of way, but through some harrowing experiences (specifically, ones in which she changes shape and questions her identity because of it), she develops into a more mature concept of Darwinian 'fitness': fitness is not necessarily being big and powerful; sometimes it is being small and delicate. It's about adaptation to surroundings, and when those surroundings are always changing, Alice must too. If you're curious (Christopher Cox, I'm talking to you), feel free to read the thing: it's around 12,000 words, though. A short, rough version (here) formed the basis for a lecture I gave on the subject, and though it's probably riddled with errors--like I said, it was just my notes--and is, I think, still colour-coded, it's far more palatable in terms of length. Also, it's sans background research and such: it sticks pretty exclusively to textual analysis, which is probably the more interesting part unless you're really into Carroll. Or Darwin.

There's more to it, of course. I talk a bit about Sylvie and Bruno and also about illustrations (that's the fun bit!) and maybe a little bit of Gulliver's Travels snuck in there. Anyway, I enjoyed writing it, as much as one can enjoy writing a dissertation, I suppose. I got my mark back on it a couple of days ago, and it received the High Pass I expected and not the Distinction that I wanted. C'est la vie (or, to preview what will possibly feature in my next post: tio estas vivo)!