Sher on the Web

[Benjamin Sher]

Dear Seelangers:

In view of the controversy associated with my use of the Seelangs
mailing list as a forum for a dialogue on Russian aspects and for
other professional matters (the announcement of the publication
of a translation of Vaginov's The Tower--The Goat-Song], I have de-
cided to make life easier for everyone by transferring many of
these activities to the Word Wide Web. I hope to have my own
site on the Web sometime next year.

While I received many supportive letters, there were also letters
from others who opposed my liberal, perhaps too liberal interpreta-
tion of the guidelines for mailing lists.

It seems to me that a mailing list should allow for more than the
exchange of notes and memoranda on conferences, upcoming
events and strictly professional matters, however necessary.
Why should Seelangs or any mailing list be limited in this respect?
Why could it not be an informal gathering place for developing ideas,
for full-length discussions, informal essays or even for the "pub-
lishing" of short papers to the list?

I do admit, however, that this view may not be shared by all or
by the majority of you. I fully respect the opinion of my peers
on this point of netiquette and appreciate their patience and under-
standing. My email problems certainly did not help, either.

Still, I believe that Seelangs ought to serve a wider cultural and
educational purpose than it may have until now. One reader noted
that this was why he/she joined Seelangs in the first place. I agree.

I hope to be able to invite all of you to visit my Web site in the near
future. Meanwhile, I'll continue to carry on my dialogue -- whenever
possible on a more modest and private basis -- on matters of
interest to all of us.


Sincerely,

Benjamin Sher

Benjamin Sher
Russian Literary Translator
(SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S
Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997)
sher07 at bellsouth.net