Week Ten: Half-assing it

In addition to taking 8001, I’m also enrolled in Dr. Thomas’s Beckett, Bersani, Badiou class – an interesting class consisting mostly of theory with a smattering of fiction. The class has two requirements (besides the tacit requisite that we attend class regularly: a presentation and a final paper. 50/50.

This week, I presented on the relation of Beckett’s fiction to the Kantian and postmodern sublime, and to be honest, I’m pretty proud of myself. I’m not gloating over having done an amazing job presenting, however. Instead, I’m taking some pride in having finally learned what I assume to be a necessity of grad school life: manipulation of previous, concurrent, and future assignments into discrete projects.

After a year and a half of busting my ass and (typically) trying to run in multiple directions at once, I made life a little easier on myself by adapting my thesis work into a presentation for Dr. Thomas’s class. While researching my Pynchon thesis, I noted Beckett’s work brought up frequently, both as reference point for the postmodern sublime and as an influence on Pynchon’s work. So, using the groundwork that I’ve done on the Pynchonian sublime, I built my Beckett presentation.

I felt as if I were taking the easy way out at first – half-assing it – but not only do I now feel as if I created a well-researched presentation, I also think that my further research for the project helped me get a better sense of what I need to my thesis.

My other big development this week is that Dr. Thomas agreed to read for me. I feel as if I’m assembling a dream team; this must be what successful fantasy football players feel like.

The semester is creeping to a close, and I feel pretty good.