I recently attended a production of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Belle Moral. I highly recommend this play. It isn’t light entertainment (though it is funny), but it is an excellent contemplation of science, art, knowledge, and so on. Well worth it. (It has also been published.)
This post isn’t really about the play, though. It is about the author’s note in the program.
Belle Moral: A Natural History has its origins in an earlier play of mine called The Arab’s Mouth … After The Arab’s Mouth premiered [in 1990], I knew that it was not quite finished and, in keeping with my experience as a playwright and collaborator, I fully expected to return to it.
Have you ever felt like that? I think of those academics who want to publish their thesis as a book. I got mine out within a year of graduating. Out. As in, an actual book that you could buy in a store. I moved the methodological discussion to an appendix. I split one chapter into two. I sent the manuscript in. Done.
But I have met a lot of people that can’t seem to do that. They feel the need to revise whole sections. Update this and that. They now feel that the argument needs to move on. Sometimes a book comes out. But often it never does.
The thesis, despite having been good enough for the committee, feels “not quite finished”. And because of that, they don’t send it to a publisher but keep it in the “to do” pile.
I’m sure this happens with numerous articles and book manuscripts every day. The desks of academics across the country (indeed the world) are littered with pieces that are “not quite finished”.
But MacDonald had her “not quite finished” play, The Arab’s Mouth, produced. And published.
Good Enough to Publish
Does something have to be finished to publish? Doesn’t publishing something that is “good enough” but “not quite finished” suggest that we are lowering our standards? Are we not in pursuit of excellence? Should we not publish only “excellent” work?
I haven’t seen The Arab’s Mouth. But I have no reason to believe it is not an excellent play in its own right. The author’s note makes it clear that Belle Moral, despite having its origins in that earlier work, is a very different play. Also excellent.
The evolution from The Arab’s Mouth to Belle Moral passed through an excellent novel, Fall On Your Knees. I have read the novel. It addresses very different themes from Belle Moral. The novel and the later play may have their origins in the same original work, but they are very different, and equally excellent products.
And yet, from the author’s perspective the earlier play and, presumably, the novel felt “not quite finished”. I am very glad that she produced/published them anyway. The world would not be a better place had she kept them in a folder until the “finished” piece was ready.
Research does not “finish” with publication
The question of “not quite finished” work is not one of the excellence or otherwise of the product (be it a play, a novel, an article, or a research monograph). It is a question of process.
Each of us has a program of research. A big research question or direction that we will pursue over several years. The research does not end with a publication. Publication is part of the process.
We will pursue specific questions or paths within that larger program. We will develop particular ideas. We will investigate a particular source. Interview particular people. Interpret particular texts.
And at every stage of the process we have things to contribute to the conversation. Publication is how academics contribute to academic debate.
Our work continues. We keep working on those ideas. We develop them. Our work advances.
And others pick up our ideas, from our publications, and take them in other directions. They bring them to their own texts, interview subjects, archives. They develop them in new directions. And publish their contributions to the conversation.
Our work is never “finished”
The questions we are pursuing are too big for that. Each step of the process raises new questions. Suggests new directions.
Publishing is about making a contribution to the advancement of knowledge. Entering into the conversation. Engaging in debate.
The standard of entry into academic debate is high. If you have been awarded a PhD, you have been judged capable of meeting that standard. You are “good enough” to participate.
The debates to which you want to contribute will be better for your participation in them. Frequently. At all stages of the process.
When faced with the product on your desk the question isn’t, “Is it finished?” The question is, “Is it good enough?”.
What does this mean in practice
If you were to look at all the unfinished pieces on your desktop (either the piece of furniture or the computer), where would you start? What should you write next? Where will you publish it?
I’ve written an e-book that can help you with those decisions. Gain a better understanding of how your publication list is judged by others and reclaim your audacious goals to make important contributions to debates in your field.
Publish or Perish? will change the way you think about writing and publishing. Read an excerpt. If you like it, sign up for the newsletter and receive the entire e-book free.
