This Week's Plan

I'm starting with some articles this week, which is great because it feels more productive to burn through some articles as opposed to slogging through a book. Most of the articles are philosophy-related. Once I get through a few of them, I'll take stock of where I am. But I think I'll be looking at Alan McKenzie's Certain, Lively Episodes: The Articulation of Passion in Eighteenth-Century Prose. I'm also reading Shaftsbury's The Moralists, which I had to print from the wonderful Eighteenth Century Collections Online, a resource without which I could not do my PhD while living so far from the British Library. Here's a nice portrait of the earl:

Once I get through The Moralists, I'll dive back into Michael Prince's Philosophical Dialogue in the British Enlightenment: Theology, Aesthetics, and the Novel. And then probably on to Michael McKeon's The Origins of the English Novel: 1600-1740 (and maybe some other McKeon as well, but his book will take me forever!). I plan to read some Habermas soon, too. And some of SafiaK's favorite theorists since she's much more up-to-speed on the theory beat. And I need to throw some primary sources into the mix, too. I guess I do have a bit of a plan . . .

I also plan, at some point soon, to make a mock orals list. My university doesn't require orals, but I think making the lists would help me focus and compartmentalize my work. Safiak's program requires three lists. Did you have three lists, Amstr?