...so, the times last night when I wasn't jumping out of bed and running to the loo?

I was dreaming about going to the loo. Or trying to find a loo. Often the loo then turned into a lift, with glass walls, and started moving, thus exposing my plight to the world.

I'm'a stay home today. Sorry, kidlets! (But they're having a half-day, which consists of: watch assembly, do spelling test, have snack and break time, spend remaining hour splashing in pool to celebrate Songkran and shooting each other with waterpistols, eat lunch and/or go home. Easy day.)

(It's my first day off so far, in a year and a half.)

Narrative Inheritance: A Case Study in Oral Literature

My only problem with this is that part of what I'm arguing is that, at least in this case, oral literature and literature shouldn't be separate things. So, it feels misleading.

Narrative Inheritance: Oral History As Literature

Ha! That's exactly what I was just thinking. Too funny.

That's exactly what I was just thinking.

Sounds like a winner, then!

(Incidentally, I'm very excited to see you heading for home on this project.)

Incidentally, I'm very excited to see you heading for home on this project.

You and me both! I'm going to finish it on time! Nothing will stop me! (Nobody will believe it!)

I blame way too many years of bookselling, and failing to move endless variations on Blah Blah Pretentious Literarycakes: A Novel.

See, this I can live with if and only if the title confuses the issue without the "A Novel" bit. Like, if my WIP was called The Autobiography of Napoleon Bonaparte (which it is not, and Napoleon is not my personal Dead Guy, either--that would be Wellington), maybe I'd need the "A Novel" so no one would think it was N's actual memoir. But otherwise? So pretentious that it's almost enough to make me not buy the book all by itself.

In my defense, I used "A Case Study," because I don't want anyone to think that I've used 50 narrators or something. This is a VERY beginning study of one person...well, actually, one story from one person.

FWIW, vw, I wasn't knocking any of your titles, just tangentially riffing on the Blah Blah Pretentious Literarycakes: A Novel phenomenon. I do think the "Case Study" title was a bit too long, but not pretentious.

No defense needed, vw! It's a habitual tic in the book world, which makes reactions like mine something to be aware of -- but there are both legit cases for it, and plenty of opportunity for you to make your methodology clear within the thesis. You don't have to explain it all in the title in this case.