Taking a break is a wonderful necessity. It allows you to change pace. It allows you to escape the routine of life, even if it is only for a few minutes. We were recently reminded of a break’s virtues in a post by Wajeeha Mohsin. A holiday break, a rare occurrence which happens but a few times a year, is an opportunity to cherish.
Academic reading can be substituted for something less static. Over the winter holiday, I rediscovered Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. Fleming has an incredible talent for lively narrative. It is good to escape the introduction, argument, counter-argument, conclusion framework of a master’s reading list. 007 would not be the same if he came to life under the pen of a professor or research student. Dr. No, would not be the same as Dr. No: A Psychopolitical Study of the Inner Workings of the Interdepartmental Strategy of British Military Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence and its International Consequences.
It is frightening to imagine what the end result would look like. “This book argues that villains endeavouring to take over the world are evil and should be defeated by agents of Her Majesty’s secret service; it uses the example of agent 007 to illustrate and buttress its thesis. First, it observes that James Bond drinks unhealthy amounts of alcohol, usually martinis (stirred, not shaken) to gain the confidence of his foes; second, it states that 007 engages in a series of dazzling gunfire exchange, and survives against all odds, with unrealistic gadgets and minimal firepower, often to the detriment of a ‘Bond girl’s’ life; third, it explores how the agent manages to best enjoy the new-found company of his female companions.” Dry stuff indeed.
Yet, the odd thing about being a student at LSE is that you never really stop. I went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I enjoyed it very much. But as a student of international history I could not help from noticing certain familiar features. Scholars could have a field day looking through the film for analogies of different world crises. The general themes of good vs. evil and light vs. dark could be applied to World War II or the Cold War, especially during the Reagan presidency, or any number of conflicts. The Elves tend to share the isolationist tendencies of 1930s America.
Later I moved on to drawing. There is little danger of stumbling into international history when you are representing a landscape. Or is there? This could have been the gathering point where the six nations Iroquois produced the Great Law of Peace? Here I let my mind wander. The result is reproduced above. I will let you decide if it is worthwhile to let my mind wander.
A break is a wonderful necessity. We can never really escape our work. Our studies will always lurk in the background. This is a good thing. We need perspective. So take a break, enjoy it, but do not be too long.
