“Curiouser and Curiouser”: Part V

Part V: More ideas

With the basic ideas for my dissertation in place and background reading well underway, I seek the opinions of my lecturers before taking my research further.

31st October 2018

I emailed a lecturer, who I know specialises in aspects of Nineteenth-Century illness, and receive a helpful response. It is recommended that I seek the opinions of further lecturers in the department and some new research methods are presented to me which may be of help.

 

5th November 2018

Discussing ideas is incredibly important for others can give advice from an external perspective. I often struggle with detaching myself from my work – stepping back is often needed in order to review ideas in research.

Following further discussion with my lecturers I have made a few changes to my initial plan. I am extending my range of literary texts. I had originally planned to look at Frankenstein, Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Considering the nature of my research, including a wider range of texts from the Nineteenth-Century will provide the opportunity for me to analyse how portrayals of male hysteria in Gothic literature developed over the century. The other texts I am intending to use include The Monk, by Matthew Lewis; ‘The Black Cat’, by Edgar Allan Poe and some of the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.