I'm stuck in a time warp preparing for oral comprehensives for the PhD in American History at George Mason. It's an amorphous, foggy place where the quest for resolution and definition unceasingly chases its own tail.
The New York Public Library may have prompted a breakthrough. Live from the NYPL features audio and video webcasts across a spectrum of people and topics. Amid the wealth of scholars and material, what caught my eye?
NYPL's Paul Holdengraber talks with Umberto Eco and Pierre Bayard about his book, How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. Apparently among Bayard's premises is the idea that "it is wholly unnecessary to have held a book in your hand, to be able to speak about it in detail, as long as you listen to and read what others say about it."
Sounds like confirmation for best-loved techniques for surviving graduate school--and orals; but it goes without saying that I haven't read it.
