dissertation woes

[k_navit]

I went this past week to pick up Leslie Lockett's _Anglo-Saxon Psychologies in the Vernacular and Latin Traditions_) published 2011, U of Toronto Press.  Her first chapter is my dissertation/writing so far, minus a consideration of homilies.  Seriously.  She says everything I was going to say about the state of the field, about the biases in

Comments

[knut_hamson]

1. It doesn't have to be a professional/publishable edition of the homilies. In fact, you can do what you can, and note in the defense your intention of getting mss access to do a proper job when it comes time to publish.

2. This happens all the time. I got scooped right after I defended my prospectus. Though I was lucky in that the person's work was not exactly what I wanted to do, and I thought she didn't do as good a job as I could have.

[matrygg]

I can help you in terms of making an edition, if you can somehow get the materials.

[k_navit]

The only way to get access to the mss at this point, afaik, is to go to Oxford. Too bad I didn't know I would need this when i was in Oxford. There are three editions of the homily already though, one done in the 30s in an article, one done in the 70s in Italian, and one in an unpublished diss from the 70s. The latter two are very difficult to get, but the diss in particular is nearly unassailable, not least of all b/c the author is an editor of the DOE (sigh)

The mss has not been released in the Microfiche Facsimile series yet.

That seems like the biggest problem at the moment, when combined with the fact that I have no paleography and did not really have a first-class OE education and am not really great with grammar. I mena, what would I do with the damned thing if I had it? I can't even read it. But then, the stickier points of grammar, orthography, and ms damage have been footnoted/emended/discussed between two of the three editions.

But I'm sure there are sticking points that I can't identify / am unaware of right now

[matrygg]

How much would Oxford want to image the parts you need? If you can get that, we can talk about paleography, transcription, and the like. Can you get the other editions?

I think it feels like a huge thing because it is huge when looked at as a whole, but the pieces are doable, and even if it doesn't come together quite the way you want, Knut's right: if it's good enough to get the chapter done that's all that matters.

[k_navit]

I have the other editions. (there is, of course, the DOE Corpus proper as well, but it's misleading in a few places; it's supposedly based on the diss but in fact there are some differences. Minor in terms of meaning but the diss has made a big difference in my translation in places where the DOE Corpus typescript version was confusing.) I don't know about Oxford. Somebody has to have images - maybe the author of that diss. Or they've been filmed for the Microfiche Facsimile project but not released, maybe. I'm not sure where to go/who to ask

[matrygg]

Also, which homilies are you working with? Maybe I can see if I can find them in facsimile someplace.

[k_navit]

Definitely the one I posted about the other day (HomM 14.1/14.2 which is actually one homily even though it doesn't seem to be from the ms context, for reasons outlined in that post). For this chapter, I also need Assmann’s item XIV, “Ueber das jungste Gericht," which also has no english translation anywhere, though the edition Assmann did I have (not that my menu-German is up to the task of reading hsi critical apparatus). I am considering a few more works but the need to translate them anew/in full isn't there for them, as they are better known and editions exist. I will be facing the same thing with at least one homily for chapter three, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

[k_navit]

Me too. 'cause I've historically been pretty good at finding an angle that nobody has done to death yet. My research told me that the corner was coming and we were on the verge of turning it, but I didn't realize Leslie Lockett had /already/ turned it - y'know? But all in all it's probably just as well, because I dind't feel quite up to the task of putting forward a full and coherent model esp. given the time/funding constraints I"m under. So she at least provided me with some vocab that was sorely lacking before - and I dont' think I could have done the job she did.

[aspasia93]

While my [being scooped] experiences just can't compare to a diss, having had my Masters thesis advisor die, compounded by a few, um, "life experiences" that radically changed the direction of my work, I can certainly understand how having to change saddles at ANY point sucks some syphillitic donkey dong.

You're on my list.

If you think a little [completely off-topic break time] might do you a little good, you can always go play Army for an hour or two :-)
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or just take 20min and do this survey for veterans and service folks:
http://youtu.be/adnHZP7BFJM