Well, it’s been a while since I updated my blog, mainly because I’ve been keeping very busy with my English Literature masters. I handed in my second set of essays a few weeks ago, which were titled “Childhood, colonialism and Christianity in Swiss Family Robinson and The Coral Island“ and “Faërie, art and magic in Sir Orfeo and Tolkien’s fiction”.
At Easter, I heard that my application for PhD funding wasn’t successful, so my plans to research religion in children’s literature, 1950 to the present, are on hold for the moment, and I’m now looking for a job for after I finish the MA. I’d like to return to do a PhD at some point, but it will probably be good for me to get a full-time job and be back in the “normal” working world, and I’m hoping my MA will stand me in good stead in finding something writing or communications based that I’ll find interesting and satisfying.
In May, I gave my first academic paper at the Myth, Legends and Folktale conference held at Cardiff University. It was titled King Arthur and Christendom, focusing on Malory, Tennyson and White’s versions of the King Arthur story. It was based on one of my autumn MA essays, and looked at changing representations of the relationship between Arthur and the Grail, and how that revealed changing conceptions of the relationship between secular and sacred. Yesterday I heard that I’ve had a second paper accepted, this time for the Christian Literary Studies Group conference in Oxford in November – I’ll be discussing Heroism in The Lord of the Rings and The Once and Future King. So I’m very excited – and slightly nervous! – about that.
I’m thoroughly enjoying studying English Literature at a postgraduate level. Managing my own time and staying focused can be hard work, but I enjoy the time researching in the library, reading books, and writing up. The pressure of essay deadlines isn’t much fun, and I’ve got to be very disciplined over the summer to get the 16-20,000 word dissertation written, but it’s good to develop the organisation and motivation to carry out this kind of research.
The second reason I’ve not updated my blog much is because most of my spare time has been going on reviving Impossible Podcasts to record commentaries the new series of Doctor Who, and getting it up and running with general science fiction and fantasy reviews and articles. It’s been fun doing that with Peter, Swithun, James, Olivia and some other friends and guests. I’ll be uploading some Tolkien episodes of the podcast over the next couple of weeks. If you enjoy science fiction or fantasy, check out our website, or find us on Twitter, Facebook or iTunes!