Pursuing your passion through postgrad study
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Lee O'Brien |
A passion for 19th Century literature has seen Macquarie University academic Lee O'Brien undertake a PhD to unearth the lost voices of female poets.
Tennyson, Browning and Arnold are names that are familiar to those who have studied English, and for most of the 20th Century Victorian poetry was characterised as a male only area.
"Some years ago I went through a demanding English honours degree and when I came out of it I hadn't even heard of the name Elizabeth Barrett Browning," says O'Brien. "I guess it's cultural amnesia."
Today names like Browning and Christina Rossetti are well known but there are a myriad of undiscovered female poets. O'Brien is researching a range of known and unknown poets and by doing so hopes to change people's perception of what Victorian literature is all about.
"I am a feminist and I care about women's voices and I care that so many of these voices got lost," explains O'Brien. "I like the process of bringing these voices to life. It's a passion, a life passion and an intellectual passion. I believe the humanities are very good at bringing together something that fascinates intellectually and has meaning for your life."
Inspiration for study
O'Brien was inspired to embark on her PhD after undertaking research work for Macquarie University Professor in English, Virginia Blain. Blain was one of the first academics to start recovering the writing of 19th Century women poets.
"Once I had read the work of these poets for Virginia it haunted me," says O'Brien. "It stimulated my imagination and my thinking about literature."
Personal gain
O'Brien nominates a number of personal gains from undertaking her PhD including assistance with her teaching. "Apart from everything else you sympathise with your students," she says. "You know what it's like to have your work judged!
"Conducting research also tests your own sense of intellectual capabilities and pushes them constantly. You are aware it is a difficult thing to write a PhD. I get failures of nerve and confidence all the time but it is important to keep working through those periods."
Post study plans
O'Brien hopes to have a full draft of her PhD by the end of this year and submit in 2007. "If I get my PhD I would love to turn it into a book," says O'Brien. "While it is stimulating to do something like this for yourself, it is also nice to feel that you are contributing to the debate."
Advice for others
It's important to have a great deal of passion to undertake a PhD according to O'Brien. "It is a huge undertaking and there is a strong original research component," she says. "You have to know the field. If you don't really love what you're doing, how can you stay with it? Doing a PhD is a sort of a madness in a way, but it is a madness that becomes a passion."
For further information visit the Department of English website: www.engl.mq.edu.au or contact O'Brien's supervisor Dr Helen Groth: Helen.groth@mq.edu.au