I have been updating my bibliography with some more information on theses. I still have about 50 or so to add in (and I need to update from DA from mid-2006 onwards), but these will be in Class 7, so the conclusions will not be too different.
I now have 350 theses on file, and these break down as follows (I hope the table transmits OK - if not let me know & I can send you an email with the data in a spreadsheet.
The codes are as follows:
1A: Texts
1: Other core alchemical topics (including individual countries and alchemists and symbolism)
3: Closely related material
5: Other material - especially history of science and occultism generally
7: Alchemical interpretations (think of it as 'The use of alchemy in ...). A lot of material here is psycholgical and a lot relates to literary studies.
I have not seen many theses, and inclusion in the bibliography is based on the title and abstract. It may well be that when I do see an item, that is is not relevant.
It is interesting to see the growth in both 1 and 7, and IMO this does reflect both an expanding interest in alchemy per se and in the willingness of the 'mainstream' academic community (thinking especially of literature studies) to recognise the role of alchemy and alchemical symbolism in so many writers, and to encourage their students to view an author through the veil of alchemy.
