in the archives

I’m fortunate that I have so far generally enjoyed research towards my PhD, to the extent that more than three years in I’m still happy with what I’m doing and enjoy both the reading and writing. I suppose this is in large part due to the fact that I spend most of my time reading and thinking about things that I find interesting. Which I imagine is a reflection of the fact that I chose a topic that matters to me, and that is substantial enough to warrant more than three years of full-time research.

Sometimes, however, there arise tasks that aren’t exactly pleasurable. I’ve spent the last few days reading through the 6592 titles of books in Adorno’s personal library in the online catalogue to the archive, looking for books in which it might potentially be interesting to read Adorno’s marginalia.

I suppose I should be pleased at the fact that more than three years into a PhD, I’m surprised by the fact that I find the occasional task somewhat dull. That didn’t make it any less tedious. And now I’m faced by the dubious pleasure that is the attempt do decipher Teddie’s handwriting.