I guess the exam readers don't want to be burdoned with the exams over Thanksgiving, because our grad coordinator emailed me last night and said I passed the first part.

I would like to thank the authors of the Odyssey, Beowulf, The Faerie Queene, Robinson Crusoe, Tristram Shandy, Wieland, and The Compleat Angler, as those are the works I discussed in the exam. Why yes, you're right: there's no Shakespeare or Milton on that list. I was aghast as well. But that's the way the questions worked out.

Whoo. So anyway, that's one down. The more I think about the second exam, the less lame I think my answers were. They weren't perfect or anything, but they weren't entirely stupid. Maybe it will work out too.

Thanks for all your support!