I just wanted to let y'all know that I passed my doctoral defense yesterday to earn a PhD in English Literature from the University of Exeter for my work on AGATHA CHRISTIE, WITNESS TO THE EVOLUTION: WOMEN, JUSTICE, AND THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, which explores the ways that Christie responded in her fiction to the momentous changes in the legal status of women over a half-century-plus career that began as women's right to vote was recognized in the UK and ended just before Margaret Thatcher became the country's first female prime minister.

If anybody would like to geek out over crime fiction, feminist studies, genetic criticism, adaptation studies, or the bestselling novelist of all time, I'm your girl.

woo hoo!!

Congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAY TO GO DR. MARY ANNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic!!!! Congratulations!

Congrats! It's an honorary degree or you have two doctorates? Either way, wow!

Congrats, Dr. Mary Anna!

Big congrats, MA! What an accomplishment!

Thanks, y'all!

Daniel, I didn't have a doctorate before. My program recognizes an MFA in creative writing as a terminal degree, so I was hired on the basis of that degree and my publication history. An MFA is an arts degree, not a research degree, and I've always had one foot in both worlds. About five years ago, I decided I wanted to develop my research interests by devoting serious study to literary criticism.

Several decades of Agatha Christie's papers are held at the University of Exeter, where I went to do some archival research in 2018, when I had a fellowship to support the trip. I talked to some of the professors there about my research interests, and they said that Exeter offered a distance option that turned out to work very well for me.

The British system is much more oriented to self-directed study. You have to prepare a proposal outlining your research before you're even admitted. Once I'd prepared that to their satisfaction, I was admitted to the program as a master's student. About two years in, I passed an oral examination to be admitted for candidacy for the PhD.

I've had monthly supervision meetings on Zoom and Skype since 2018, plus much passing-back-and-forth of my manuscript for review and comment. Instead of taking courses, I'd come away from a meeting with a suggestion that, for example, I investigate genetic criticism as a scaffold for my argument. Rather than taking a class, I'd gather a bunch of materials from the library, so that I could read up on the subject. I would never have had time to take formal classwork, and I'm pretty much of an autodidact anyway, so this approach suited me well.

Now I have a manuscript that I'd like to edit into book, so that's what I'll do next.

Sounds like it was great program, I’m glad!!

Best news in a while. Congratulations!

Congratulations, Mary Anna, PhD!

That’s fantastic!

Congratulations!

Congratulation, Doc!

Totally awesome. As always!!

Congratulations, Mary Anna.