Graphite on hand-made paper

31.5 x 23.2 inches

reproduction by Marco Wittkowski

"After the first meeting, I was devastated. How was I supposed to meet the apparently very different demands? What I thought I was capable of (writing texts, for example), met with little approval from my doctoral advisor (he had put question marks around a number of formulations). What he demanded of me (theory-guided research) seemed incompatible with my topic. In our family history this day is unforgotten. We had to buy a new table top.

My new professor will not have reacted quite so emotionally, but he must not have been happy with the candidate who had fallen to him in Leipzig. I credit him with the fact that he nevertheless thought his way into my subject and always showed interest."

From: Tales from 1001 Doctorates, „A PhD Topic in the First Semester" by Michael Meyen, 2006, Klinkhardt Verlag