Rambling...

So, going into the oral exam, I expected I would be asked three kinds of questions: to clarify things in the written exam that weren't clear or only partially developed, to answer questions that I was prepared to answer but hadn't for the exam, and to explain how this all works towards my dissertation.

The first type of question I certainly got, and think I answered the three or four that were clarification questions okay. The second, where I answer questions I was prepared for but didn't write about, I did mostly okay, but one of the questions given to me asked me to reference a specific author, and I spent too much time (at least it felt like too much) trying to create an argument about that specific author.

The third question, about the dissertation, really didn't get discussed at all. Our only discussion of the dissertation came after they congratulated me on passing the exam and told me to keep working and prepare a prospectus right away. When I outlined what I had in mind - in about 30 seconds - suddenly the composition of the dissertation committee, which I thought was pretty set - unravelled. They did tell me to stay away from a transatlantic treatment of the subject, but anything more than that is up in the air right now.

I'm living with it. But it does make me question whether I should undertake the project I'm considering.

(I know that was all rather vague, but if you're really interested in it, well, I guess you'll have to wait till I have a better idea myself - sorry)