Hi Eugene,
I am very much looking forward to meeting you at AERA. You mentioned this
conference to me last summer, and thank you for that. My plan is to meet
as many xmca people as I can, and learn as much as I can. I will be there
the entire week.
I am sorry I had to put on hold our discussion of Kaplan's fascinating
ideas and your student studies of emulating language variations in grammar
in corresponding English styles. I am actually completely intrigued by
this inquiry into language. I definitely want to return to this important
question.
Your contributions in xmca and the papers of yours I have read have been
influential on me. I generally come from a strong Marxist position - very
rooted in the Russian Revolution - which challenges some of the positions
you have taken (e.g., pragmatist), but your obviously deep-seeded training
in Russian thinking, so influenced by Marxism, ultimately creates a strong
common ground between us. We have each evolved in our own ways, of course,
and one result is that, ironically, on some questions, I am more "Russian"
than you, and on other questions, you are more "American" than me! My
father was (actually, still is) a liberal, Dewey-oriented English
teacher. Compared to him, a perfect example of a liberal American, I am a
committed Russian Marxist. But compared to you, clearly now a fascinating
combination of the two countries, I am something of a product of both
worlds, but an odd one, since I have never been to Russia nor even learned
the language. What I really am is a kind of internationalist, in spirit
and philosophy, and what attracts me to Russia and the Russian Revolution -
and to Russian-Americans like you - is your and their historic connection
with all other countries and the whole world.
Anyway, thanks so much for what you do on xmca and for being my
friend. You teach me much.
Best,
- Steve
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat May 01 2004 - 01:00:06 PDT