[Sandra Schwab]

The dragon is slain, the princess is saved, and today I handed in my dratted dissertation. As it behoves a PhD project on dragonslaying and gender roles, when printed out the DD turned out to be of monstrous dimensions and, if thrown, could do serious harm even to a dragon (provided you hit a voolnerable spot like an eye or the nose). To say I'm relieved and overjoyed, is a bit of an understatement.

Now I've finally got time again to read (I've already ordered a load of Mary Stewart & Rosamunde Pilcher books), to prepare my romance seminar (tee-hee), and, of course, to write! Yay! Regency England, here I come!

Callooh! Callay!

[Laura Vivanco]

Do you think at some point you'll try to get the chapter on romance published separately, perhaps in a revised form? I know, it's far too early to even think about that, and I probably shouldn't have asked. But I think it would be a shame for you to have done all that work and then not have at least some of it available for lots of other people to read.

[Cora Buhlert]

Congratulations!

[Sandra Schwab]

Thanks for the congrats, Cora!

Laura Vivanco, on 20 August 2009 - 09:48 PM, said:

Do you think at some point you'll try to get the chapter on romance published separately, perhaps in a revised form? I know, it's far too early to even think about that, and I probably shouldn't have asked. But I think it would be a shame for you to have done all that work and then not have at least some of it available for lots of other people to read.

I can do better than that. In order to get a PhD degree in Germany, you eventually have to publish the dissertation. So, provided nothing goes wrong, some time next year the dratted diss will emerge, swan-like, in the form of a (rather fat) book and will be released onto the unsuspecting world. And there'll be a Richard Doyle illustration on the cover (naturally!).

[Jennifer Crowley]

Sandra Schwab, on 20 August 2009 - 06:29 PM, said:

Thanks for the congrats, Cora!



I can do better than that. In order to get a PhD degree in Germany, you eventually have to publish the dissertation. So, provided nothing goes wrong, some time next year the dratted diss will emerge, swan-like, in the form of a (rather fat) book and will be released onto the unsuspecting world. And there'll be a Richard Doyle illustration on the cover (naturally!).

SWEET!

[Cora Buhlert]

Sandra Schwab, on 21 August 2009 - 12:29 AM, said:

In order to get a PhD degree in Germany, you eventually have to publish the dissertation. So, provided nothing goes wrong, some time next year the dratted diss will emerge, swan-like, in the form of a (rather fat) book and will be released onto the unsuspecting world. And there'll be a Richard Doyle illustration on the cover (naturally!).

Being used to the German system, where PhD thesis automatically means published in some form, it takes some adjusting to the fact that dissertations are not necessarily published in other countries.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the book. Is it in German or English?

[Sandra Schwab]

Cora Buhlert, on 24 August 2009 - 05:41 AM, said:

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the book. Is it in German or English?

It's in English. The title is "Of Dragons, Knights & Virgin Maidens - Dragonslaying and Gender Roles from Richard Johnson to Modern Popular Fiction." It's basically an overview of the development of the dragonslayer story from 1596 to 2002, covering Elizabethan romance, folk literature, nineteenth-century & early-twentieth-century medievalism, fantasy and romance. The focus is mainly on the development in Britain, but I also discuss a few German ("Kinder- und Hausmärchen"!) and US American texts.

[Eric Selinger]

Sandra Schwab, on 20 August 2009 - 05:29 PM, said:

In order to get a PhD degree in Germany, you eventually have to publish the dissertation. So, provided nothing goes wrong, some time next year the dratted diss will emerge, swan-like, in the form of a (rather fat) book and will be released onto the unsuspecting world. And there'll be a Richard Doyle illustration on the cover (naturally!).

If there aren't any reasons NOT to get part of it into print elsewhere--contractual obligations, bone-deep fatigue, etc.--we'd certainly love to see the romance portion submitted to JPRS! (And keep us in mind for anything you've left on the cutting room floor...)