Amstr, Is your dissertation going to be theory-heavy? Is there a certain theorist that's driving your work?
SafiaK, I'm guessing your paper will be fairly theory-heavy. In your studies over the past couple of years, what has been your favorite theory/theorist? The most interesting and the most useful for opening a text? is there a certain theorist whose work you'll rely on in your diss?
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Right now, I don’t think my dissertation will be theory heavy. I don’t think of myself as one to invent theoretical approaches, so I’m guess I won’t so much that’s new in that way. Since my strengths are in close readings and making connections between seemingly disconnected works/passages, I imagine my dissertation will focus on those tasks.
I find myself in an interesting place with theory. So much new historicism drives criticism of Ren. lit., and I’m connected to feminism in some way because I’m looking at women, and I’m connected to cognitive theory because of working with a dominant metaphor and how that metaphor might have functioned within the context. Probably the most influential scholar is Mary Thomas Crane. (I actually got to have dinner with her, and was at a place in my life/career where I couldn’t take full advantage of her expertise.) The introduction to her _Shakespeare’s Brain_ (which I need to re-read) outlines Cognitive Theory and it’s place within the current (and historical) theoretical framework, particularly connecting it to and differentiating it from structuralist and post-structuralist theory. My advisor’s advice is to write and see what I do, and then examine how my approach might connect to various theories.
What about you?
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