I never advise people to go for a single novelist work. I humbly believe that these are trodden paths. Go for a topic that will open new horizons in analysis, something that adds not simply repeats. A comparative study is always a better alternative!

Dear Patrick Ernest Baaklini

It is often recommended that you research more than one author and many researchers seem to jump into the unknown, picking two or even three authors as if investigating one author thoroughly is not good enough. I embarked on my Ph. D. after many years of teaching and researching. I suppose I had enough experience under my belt so to speak and hence decided against researching more than one author. But let me say, if you are not pressed by time and you have the leisure, then study two or even more authors. Likewise, if you investigate something that you don’t expect to find enough evidence to support your claims in the works of one single author, you would also have to widen your research to include more than one author. You see you need to weigh your options and pick the one the suits you best and make you enjoy the time you devote to research, reading and writing.

Jinan F. B. Al-Hajaj Thank you for the help. I'm currently trying to discuss the ethical considerations of artificial human enhancement. The main point is to highlight the potential risks of eliminating individual privacy and centralizing intelligence. I'm really interested in approaching this from a philosophical perspective using a movement called transhumanism. However, I'm still not quite sure if I should pick Aldous Huxley only based on his dystopian novel "Brave New World". This is the only dystopian novel that he has written and it's not enough. Also, I don't want to pick several authors and like you said "jump into the unknown". Do you have any suggestions??

Patrick Ernest Baaklini

One novel may not offer evidence enough for a Ph.D. dissertation, I am afraid. Though it varies according to the size of the text and number of examples you can find after inspection, still 3-4 novels are expected to be investigated in a Ph.D. thesis. You can either a pick a third novelist in addition to Orwell and Huxley. Or else, let the arguments in your thesis all centre on Orwell’s fiction. You need to sit with supervisor and discuss the pros and cons of each suggestion. For me, both are workable because you will be focusing on a certain feature in the hope of seeing it materialize in the novels under study. Best Wishes!

Hello all depends on your rationale and major claims. Methodologically speaking, you can work on more than one author as long as you give sound central claims and a comprehensive literature review.

Good luck

For a model you might look at Ihsb Hassan’s book, The Literature of Silence, discussing Henry Miller and Samuel Beckett. Also, if you opt for both your authors, you might contrast with William Golding and trace back the dystopian roots to Thomas More’s Utopia. I am of course thinking of 1984, Brave New World, and Lord of the Flies. your project sounds enjo and exciting.

Jim Drummond I have finished my master's thesis on Lord of the Flies. I discussed the significance of ritual sacrifices as violent means to attain dominance and mastery. I employed an anthropological approach and investigated the scapegoating process explained by René Girard. So mainly I discussed how primitive societies (similar to the characters in the novel) redirected the overflow of violence toward a sacrificial victim (Simon in that case). I want my Ph.D. proposal to look fresh and contemporary and to shift from primitive societies and anthropology to technology and transhumanism. I'm actually thinking of Huxley and Orwell. I have noticed that social isolation and the elimination of free will are concomitant with artificial intelligence and the transformation of the human condition. I think that we are currently witnessing an artificial revolution replacing the natural world.

Patrick- I think that AI is like a hammer, it can reinforce or subvert the natural world. We tend to have an often remote or displaced nostalgia for Mother Nature, which/who nonetheless can be as brutal to humans as any technology gone off the rails. What I find fascinating is how surrealism arose in photography, painting and literature as a reaction against and attempt to transform nature and social memes. Absurdity and dystopia, I think, sprang from the same roots as determined resistance to tyranny and hegemony. The structure of any system of hierarchical sorting within a society will inevitably provoke a rebellious response.

Ihab Hassan I think thought that the best answer to social stagnation was rebellion and irrepressible eroticism, - Samuel Beckett and Henry Miller - even though he was trained as an engineer and was one of the most cerebral personalities I ever met. His works are collected at the University if California- Irvine, even though he taught at Wesleyan University ( my alma mater) and then at the U. Of Wisconsin- Mileaukee.

Well, it depends on your topic, however, if you can tackle the works of one author would be better.

Regards

I never advise people to go for a single novelist work. I humbly believe that these are trodden paths. Go for a topic that will open new horizons in analysis, something that adds not simply repeats. A comparative study is always a better alternative!

@Patrick Ernest Baaklini

The February 25, 2021 edition of The New Yorker magazine has an article by Matthew Hutson on the perils and ethics of some AI research which might interest you as to your project.