We began this appointment by talking about Kerishma’s current secondary source research and her goals for that research. In addition to the books from last week, Lindsey suggested Tor.com’s A Song of Ice and Fire discussion, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database, and Strange Horizons. Our general goal is to boost Kerishma’s current reading in the history of the fantasy genre with current material about Martin’s series specifically. The SFFRD includes both scholarly and journalistic materials, and Tor hires prominent professional and semi-professional writers for its blogs, making both of them quality sources within this field.

After that, we devoted much of our discussion to project management, thinking both about specific tools Kerishma might use (including Zotero for sources and citations, SelfControl and focus booster for a productive working experience, and Mural.ly for a virtual whiteboard/keeping a handle on the big picture) and about the intellectual scope of her paper. Recognizing the need to firmly ground this thesis in the fantasy genre, the desire to discuss the question of book-to-TV adaptation, and the real possibility that this project could get quite unwieldy, Lindsey suggested Kerishma organize her paper around 3-4 themes (with adaptation as one of those themes), and then discuss each of the five characters which interest her in relationship to each theme. If the information about the fantasy genre could serve as a sort of extended introduction or launchpad for thematic analysis, this would allow Kerishma to familiarize her audience with her field without having to explain every last bit of the worldbuilding of A Song of Ice and Fire. Just as people write about The Lord of the Rings without spending tons of time explaining “what hobbits are,” our goal here is to write about Martin’s books without letting the focus simply divert back towards an explanation of the universe in which the books are set.

Once Kerishma is generally set on the themes she wishes to analyze, Lindsey suggested a follow-up meeting in November to specifically address relevant pieces of literary theory as ballast for those sections. (The idea being not to read all of Derrida, say, but to find the tiny piece of Derrida that might be relevant to the paper and build it into the draft.)

Kerishma is applying to graduate school for next year; Lindsey discussed the particulars of the GRE Subject Test in Literature in English and noted that ETS’s practice materials [PDF] give a good overview of what the exam will be like. Given that Kerishma isn’t yet certain of her area of specialization, Lindsey suggested focusing primarily on MA programs, and noted UChicago’s MA in the Humanities, CCNY’s MA in English with a focus in Literature, and the Graduate Center’s MA in Liberal Studies as three good starting points for future doctoral studies in a subfield of Kerishma’s choosing. While Kerishma’s thesis is not going to be her writing sample, Lindsey suggested she mention that she is writing a thesis in her application letters. We also discussed setting up in-person meetings with faculty in the New York area and the nature of the personal statement.

Lindsey would be happy to meet with anyone else thinking about graduate school in the humanities, or to answer questions about it via e-mail.