So I'm looking to apply to the Research English and Literature programme at the University of York. I really want to do a research degree instead of a taught degree, and as their Medieval Studies programme only does a taught degree for the MA level (and their course modules are very sparse and uninteresting to me), I will try to look at medieval stuff through the English department. There are a number of profs who are both in English and Medieval Studies (which is multi-disciplinary at York), so that should not be a problem there. What I do need to do, however, is find a topic that I would like to research for a year, that I can research for a year, and that someone will be willing to supervise me for.
I am seriously thinking about studying disability in medieval fables and the roles that disability and the disabled have in medieval fables and in fables in the middle ages. One source I can look at is the Romulus Anglicus version of Aesop's fables, said to be written around late antiquity or the early medieval period, as well as Alexander Neckham's Novus Aesopus, assuming I can find a copy. One thing that cannot be contested is the presence of disability in Aesop, and by these two sources, it is evident that they were used and re-worked in the medieval period. The real question there would be, is there enough to write a thesis? A search of Google, JSTOR and of the UofT library system suggests that at the very least, Aesop and disability has not been deeply examined (which means either I suck at searches, I've found a new and exciting topic and it's mine all mine, or there's not enough to make it worthwhile to write on it). I could also look at other fables from the middle ages, which would take at least a bit of searching.
And now that Greg has shown up and helped me write an e-mail to a prospective supervisor, I wait! *Quakes with FEAR*
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You're welcome! Let me know how the emails go!
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