21 January 2009

Look, a thesis paragraph

This is for my honours thesis, pompously entitled "Morals and Make-believe: A Comparative Evaluation of Purpose, Form, and Didactic Effect in the Fantasy Worlds of George MacDonald, Kenneth Grahame, and Lewis Carroll."

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I believe that the “eccentric men” who authored these classic works [The Princess and the Goblin, The Wind in the Willows, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland] cherished purposes deeper than escapism. I have concluded that their fictional worlds are all intended to serve a distinct goal: MacDonald aimed to craft something relevant to our own experience, Grahame sought a healing alternative to painful reality, and Carroll wished to amuse children with unrealistic fragments and simultaneously to protect them from immorality. These facts become clear in view of their own explicitly expressed authorial intentions, the meticulous construction of their worlds, and the moral effect given by each book. Each wonderland offers vivid cultures and definite “spiritual” expectations, the hallmarks of intentional craftsmanship; moreover, as we enter the fantasts’ creations, we cannot help but conform our emotions and beliefs to those expressed there.

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So there you have it. Wordy and circuitous, perhaps, but at least presentable. Hooray! Now to expand, edit, and polish the 48 pages of blather which follow it. I don't want my poor long-suffering thesis committee to die of verbal overload. I have till March . . .

3 comments:

  1. Thesis committees love reading blather. :)

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  2. "find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun"

    A true gift indeed

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  3. That is such a pompous title! It portends exciting things in the 48 pages following, and I can't wait to hear you present it. :)

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