After a long wait, I’ve finally received my feedback on Document 2 (the literature review). To my surprise, I find it has been recommended for a PASS with no requirement for even minor modifications.
I really feel, however, as though I’ve hardly begun to explore the literature: the production of Document 2 has served little purpose beyond identifying what I now need to read and analyse — it has certainly not provided me with what I can confidently identify as ‘a gap in the knowledge’ which my research should therefore address. Worst of all, despite Umberto Eco’s advice in ‘How to Write a Thesis’ (MIT, 2015), I feel as though I’ve simply been playing a game — aiming to show off ‘cleverness’ through pyrotechnics of cross-referencing and rhetoric, rather than seriously laying down a clear and systematic explanation of current ideas about the research topic.
On the other hand, while checking for Eco’s advice, I encountered exactly the excuse I may need for providing a paraphrase rather than a transcription of my interview with Assemble: “if you consult any dictionary you will see that the word ‘exactitude’ is not among the synonyms of faithfulness. They are rather loyalty, honesty, respect, and devotion” (Eco, U. ‘Dire quasi la stessa cosa: Esperienze di traduzione’ Milan: Bompiani 2003).