As probably could be expected, drama has so far not presented itself and was all created in my head. At least I have the sense to realize how little most drama matters anyway. Someday, I’ll figure out exactly what happened, but that day is not today.
Unrelatedly, there must be something in the water with this year’s student influx into Japanese lit, because they’re all interested in early early EARLY Japanese texts and histories, like the Kojiki.
I had an hour long meeting with my advisor yesterday in which many lies were told, promises I absolutely cannot keep made, and many ego-crushing life paths presented. Okay, not ego-crushing, just sobering. I was always under the impression that it’s best to specify your interests as a prospective phD, but in doing so, I’ve actually limited myself too much and now I’m going to have to work toward actually broadening my horizons to make me more marketable as a prospective student. As such, I’m becoming Folklore Girl ™, instead of Setsuwa Girl ™. The prospect is daunting, mostly because for all that this is the perfect direction for me, I really don’t know the first thing about where to take this new direction with my M.A. thesis. While it’s clear the topics are intrinsically related, I’m really… really… terrible at theory and using other peoples’ frameworks to encompass my own. The problem is that you have to engage other scholarly works or you can’t hope to consider yourself relevant, and so I foresee a long jaunt into the history of the study of folklore. Which will undoubtedly lead me to Russia. Because that’s where all the folklore is.
Anyway, seeing my options laid out before me was truly humbling and I’m beginning to grasp how difficult a semester this is going to be for me. Hopefully, I’ll survive and be better for it!
