Coaches and Libraries

I came across a quote today, paraphasing Francois Truffaut, saying that making a movie is like getting on a stagecoach. At the beginning you're hoping for a good journey. Half-way in you just want to reach the end.

I doubt I'm the first person to suggest that a PhD is very similar. I'm not sure quite where I am on the progression yet - I still want to say something interesting and innovative, but the end is sounding increasingly appealing! One thing that is certain is that the loneliness of research (particularly in the Arts) can really get you down sometimes. When you don't have a conversation between waking up and getting back home in the evening even the most brilliant research seems unappealling.

That goes double when you're in a foreign country, and I'm far from immune. I am, however ,lucky in that I'm doing most of my work in a library (the Burton Collection of the Detroit Public Library) which not only has extremely friendly and helpful librarians, but also a number of visitors working on their own projects, about which they're filled with an infectious enthusiasm. Today is a case in point - I got chatting over the photocopier to the historian of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who was conducting some research into one of its former conductors. It was a fascinating topic which I knew nothing about, and provided a much-needed break from the minutiae of the Mayor Lodge's correspondence from 1932!