The soul-crushing
mind-numbing
gut-wrenching
heart-breaking
“joy” of methodology.
I was never taught me-tho-do-lo-gy.
Whatever that is.
Isn’t the method just
1. Idea,
2. Struggle,
3. Word vomit?
That’s how I do it.
I wonder,
what if?
What if I want to be inspired by birds and flowers,
and not cite so many dull, dreary lawyers?
What if academic writing feels like a prison
And prose feels like sweet escape?
Like most other -logies
Methodology feels mislaid.
Dear Kate,
I’m sorry I can’t be more enthusiastic
Though I hope this eulogy does justice
to methodology, may it rest in peace.
Since this carnival
will surely be the end of it.
Başak Etkin (@EtkinBasak) is a researcher in international legal theory and the co-host of the philosophy of international law podcast, Borderline Jurisprudence
Perhaps Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason could persuade you to reconsider your dystopic position which may be more due to personal factors than the problem of methodology?
Pleased to be reminded of Joana Newsome’s “Time, as a symptom” which uses the device in the first stanza to good effect. It can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYefVGPHAE8
I can relate! These methodologies often ruin ones creative expression. Besides, deciphering academic writings is another kind of complexity which makes a researcher preposterous.
See Adorno’s “The Essay as Form” in Notes to Literature Vol 1 – same argument but with some very interesting definitions of music at the end as relevant to writing….