this started as a response to that anon but then i realized it was getting hella long, so here’s a separate post about
GRAD SEMINAR PERSONALITIES.
seminar personalities are based on a variety of factors, including class size, teaching style, comfort level, preexisting interpersonal dynamics, level of investment (in seminar and grad school as a whole), and mood. there are a few constants, though, and i will characterize them by harry potter characters because that’s how my brain is working right now.
- HERMIONE. has somehow managed to get to every single assigned reading, as well as the entire bibliography of every author on the syllabus. has she slept? probably not. will she monopolize conversation? probably yes, often by bringing in critics or works you’ve never heard of. she is an invaluable resource and is always happy to direct you to useful sources. befriend her and your inbox will never run dry (of JSTOR articles that made her think of you).
- RON. did he finish any of the readings? probably not. why is he in graduate school? unclear. he spent the summer hiking and is probably the most normal dude in your whole program. a source of good cheer, off-topic questions, and reminders that there is life outside of work.
- HARRY. caught in the perpetual, resentful paradox of obsessing over the job market but wanting to retain some semblance of happiness. deals with his crushing fear of failure by employing gallows humor and writing increasingly bizarre papers on increasingly obscure topics because time isn’t real and none of us are getting jobs anyway. prefers seminars that allow autonomy and/or provide professionalization training.
- LUNA. every seminar has at least one (1) theory bro. if you are not this bro, then at least half of what she* says sounds like abstract nonsense. however! her insights are often extremely wise and meaningful, so you need to either learn to speak the language or become proficient at translating. U Chicago has a generator, in case you need practice. you could also open literally any book by judith butler and try to decode a random paragraph. (*most theory bros are male, in my experience, but my roommate is one and she is a #blessing).
- REMUS LUPIN. mild-mannered mediator. does a lot to facilitate discussions, especially if the professor favors a laissez faire approach, and can translate between the theory bro and the rest of the world. generous and helpful in a very lowkey way. can respond to any totally incoherent question you ask with an answer that makes you sound like a genius.
- OLIVER WOOD. one-track mind, god bless him. complete expert on a very specific topic, little to no interest in anything else. he’s on a mission and if the content of the discussion doesn’t fit, he will make it fit. missions range from “bring up foucault’s discipline and punish in every class” to “apply all secondary texts to works authored by dh lawrence.”
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