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30/11/15 16:01There is one program I'm applying to (fortunately it has a February deadline) that actually requires a 10-20 page critical essay.
If I had a paper from undergrad, I would use a paper from undergrad. Or even the werewolf paper I did in grad school, substantially revised! But I do not. And it's not going to be easy to write a paper from scratch; I no longer have access to any databases beyond what I can access through NYPL, I don't have access to scholarly journals. NYPL is good but not a patch on a good university library. I guess I should be able to put something together if I start putting Interlibrary loan requests in NOW, but I can't get journal articles through ILL.
(It occurs to me that if I really wanted to do a good job on this, I should take a week off and see how much research I can get through at Duke and UNC -- both of which are pretty generous in giving access to people outside the university, unlike Columbia and NYU. But this is my 'well, if I don't get into any of the super-selective programs I'm applying for, maybe I can at least spend two years sitting by myself in a northern forest' school, so I'm not inclined to put TOO much effort into it).
Universities like it when you have taken some years off for Life Experience after undergrad, but the application process is so much easier if you actually still have access to university resources.
Oh well! I think I at least know what I want to write about now! It is body horror and reproduction in Yoko Ogawa's "Pregnancy Diary." (Or other stories too! I should read Ogawa's Revenge, and see what's out there on the general topic...)
I always need to read more Carol Clover.
(Note to self:
Managing the monstrous feminine : regulating the reproductive body
Knowing Fear : Science, Knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre.)
If I had a paper from undergrad, I would use a paper from undergrad. Or even the werewolf paper I did in grad school, substantially revised! But I do not. And it's not going to be easy to write a paper from scratch; I no longer have access to any databases beyond what I can access through NYPL, I don't have access to scholarly journals. NYPL is good but not a patch on a good university library. I guess I should be able to put something together if I start putting Interlibrary loan requests in NOW, but I can't get journal articles through ILL.
(It occurs to me that if I really wanted to do a good job on this, I should take a week off and see how much research I can get through at Duke and UNC -- both of which are pretty generous in giving access to people outside the university, unlike Columbia and NYU. But this is my 'well, if I don't get into any of the super-selective programs I'm applying for, maybe I can at least spend two years sitting by myself in a northern forest' school, so I'm not inclined to put TOO much effort into it).
Universities like it when you have taken some years off for Life Experience after undergrad, but the application process is so much easier if you actually still have access to university resources.
Oh well! I think I at least know what I want to write about now! It is body horror and reproduction in Yoko Ogawa's "Pregnancy Diary." (Or other stories too! I should read Ogawa's Revenge, and see what's out there on the general topic...)
I always need to read more Carol Clover.
(Note to self:
Managing the monstrous feminine : regulating the reproductive body
Knowing Fear : Science, Knowledge and the Development of the Horror Genre.)