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Apr. 15th, 2005 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cblj_backupAll right, now that I've decompressed a bit and had something to eat... *grins*
Thank you to everyone who's been supporting me through this -- your kind words and thoughts have meant the world to me today, and I promise someday soon I'll stop spamming my LJ with thesis stuff. But it was very helpful to know that folks were thinking of me. Sorry I kept you all in suspense :D
My mum even sent me a mask! It arrived this morning in a package with a bunch of chocolate and some mail that came to her house by mistake. It's absolutely gorgeous -- I'll post photos tomorrow -- and it came from Bali, from a maskmaker who supplies a troupe of the famed Balinese dancers that Artaud was so mad for. I haven't gone over all the neat description stuff that came with it, but if it was made in the traditional fashion (as it seems to have been) then it was carved from a living tree.
Either way, it's cool -- it's reversible. It's called the frowning man, and if you hold it with the corners of the eyes slanting downwards (and the inside signature right-way-up) it looks like a large-nosed, unhappy sort of soul with a furrowed brow. However, if you turn it around so that the signature is upside down, instead you have an impish, pug-nosed face with an enormous grin. It's quite one of the most beautiful things I've ever owned.
As for the defence itself....
Man, they invented the phrase "academically rigorous" to describe examinations like that. I spent about ten minutes going over my process and my feelings on the paper with my committee, talking about what I would do if I were going to publish, or if I were going to expand it into a dissertation. After that, they took turns asking questions; as expected, my Classics prof nailed me on Atellan farces, so I have to rewrite that section, and both of my other profs asked for more discussion of the place of the mask in realism, including an examination of whether film's interaction with theatre (in particular, the close-up) precludes modern society from ever really interacting with the mask in the way earlier cultures have. Not a slam-dunk to fix, but not beyond my range.
They also discussed the possibility of a closer examination of the development of the American Democracy as a unique and unusual form of government/culture, and whether that interacts with masked theatre at all, but I responded that while it was an interesting idea, it was a thesis in itself and I didn't feel that it was relevant enough to my particular studies to warrant inclusion. This, and the fact that I pointed out the parliamentary system is pretty much first cousin to the American mode of government, made my advisor very happy (so she informed me afterwards).
But they still signed the Petition to Graduate and I delivered it to the administration office literally as it was closing, and then I sat down in the lobby and breathed deeply for a while.
So, I have all three copies of my thesis back, with copious revision markers, and I'm meeting with Advisor on Monday to discuss said revisions. I took notes, too, and as I took them with my IoPen I'll upload them for all to see, if you so desire, when I do a belated photo update tomorrow.
Not that you'll be able to read them, but it's the spirit of the thing. :D
Thank you again, everyone who wished me luck and who is popping champagne in the earlier post :D
Thank you to everyone who's been supporting me through this -- your kind words and thoughts have meant the world to me today, and I promise someday soon I'll stop spamming my LJ with thesis stuff. But it was very helpful to know that folks were thinking of me. Sorry I kept you all in suspense :D
My mum even sent me a mask! It arrived this morning in a package with a bunch of chocolate and some mail that came to her house by mistake. It's absolutely gorgeous -- I'll post photos tomorrow -- and it came from Bali, from a maskmaker who supplies a troupe of the famed Balinese dancers that Artaud was so mad for. I haven't gone over all the neat description stuff that came with it, but if it was made in the traditional fashion (as it seems to have been) then it was carved from a living tree.
Either way, it's cool -- it's reversible. It's called the frowning man, and if you hold it with the corners of the eyes slanting downwards (and the inside signature right-way-up) it looks like a large-nosed, unhappy sort of soul with a furrowed brow. However, if you turn it around so that the signature is upside down, instead you have an impish, pug-nosed face with an enormous grin. It's quite one of the most beautiful things I've ever owned.
As for the defence itself....
Man, they invented the phrase "academically rigorous" to describe examinations like that. I spent about ten minutes going over my process and my feelings on the paper with my committee, talking about what I would do if I were going to publish, or if I were going to expand it into a dissertation. After that, they took turns asking questions; as expected, my Classics prof nailed me on Atellan farces, so I have to rewrite that section, and both of my other profs asked for more discussion of the place of the mask in realism, including an examination of whether film's interaction with theatre (in particular, the close-up) precludes modern society from ever really interacting with the mask in the way earlier cultures have. Not a slam-dunk to fix, but not beyond my range.
They also discussed the possibility of a closer examination of the development of the American Democracy as a unique and unusual form of government/culture, and whether that interacts with masked theatre at all, but I responded that while it was an interesting idea, it was a thesis in itself and I didn't feel that it was relevant enough to my particular studies to warrant inclusion. This, and the fact that I pointed out the parliamentary system is pretty much first cousin to the American mode of government, made my advisor very happy (so she informed me afterwards).
But they still signed the Petition to Graduate and I delivered it to the administration office literally as it was closing, and then I sat down in the lobby and breathed deeply for a while.
So, I have all three copies of my thesis back, with copious revision markers, and I'm meeting with Advisor on Monday to discuss said revisions. I took notes, too, and as I took them with my IoPen I'll upload them for all to see, if you so desire, when I do a belated photo update tomorrow.
Not that you'll be able to read them, but it's the spirit of the thing. :D
Thank you again, everyone who wished me luck and who is popping champagne in the earlier post :D
