i can't imagine why in the world one should NOT approach the author of an essay or book if one can . . . the whole point of this profession is to engage in productive exchange . . . book reviews are one channel for dong that, allowing X to comment on Y's work and -- aptly - for Y to respond . . . that's how we all learn . . . and we do exactly the same thing at conferences a list-serv is something like a low level on-going conference, for sharing and questioning ideas . . . it seems indeed the perfect place to talk to an author and pose questions about work it's unfortunate that the defensiveness or haughtiness of some posters has made peter feel that he needed to apologize for this mike -----Original Message----- From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Longworth Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2010 9:51 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SCREEN-L] Introducing myself Introducing myself, I have been a subscriber to this list since early 2008, but have been very quiet until recently. I have enjoyed reading many of the posts here, and have a very keen interest in film and literature (my two undergraduate majors). I'm particularly interested in 1920-1960 films, with a very keen interest in Hitchcock, Visconti, Lean, Ford, Powell, Lang, Huston, Curtiz, Resnais, Demey (really only Lola & The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), Varda, Ozu. My favourite film style is film noir and I also have a keen interest in noir literature of the 1920s-1940s. I'm currently studying Cinema Authorship and stuides in Eighteenth-Century Literature (female authors) at the University of Newcastle. Both courses are taught by very enthusiastic lecturers I recently sought people's opinions / ideas on a Hitchcock film project I was studying - several contributors referred to me as a 'kid' who had stumbled onto this board accidentally, or who thought I would deliberately approach authors of journal papers. It's interesting how we make judgements about people (I've done it myself), but I've been here for over two years, and I'm not a 'kid', I'm a mature age student -38 years old. I felt it was very important to introduce myself. I have valued everyone's comments and input, both positive and negative (I take all criticism constructively), and I have no intention of contacting any influential authors of peer reviewed papers with regard to my research. I look forward to reading the posts here but for the most part I'm an observer and not a poster. I hope I have dispelled any wild myths about myself as a person and as a student. I take my work extremely seriously - both as a student and as a library technician. I also apologise about my very bad spelling in several of the earlier posts - I have a disability which affects my concentration and typing at times. Regards Peter ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org