RE: RARA-AVIS: Newbie Introduction

From: Rachels, David ( RachelsDA@vmi.edu)
Date: 01 May 2008


Thanks, Jeff. I had intended to introduce myself to the list before otherwise posting, but that seems not to have worked out.

 
Hi, everyone. My name is David Rachels, and I am a professor of nineteenth-century American literature at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. (Not that there is anything particularly military about me-I just happen to teach at a military college.) My first encounter with the pulp-noir that I love came somewhere around the eighth grade (circa 1980-81) when I saw Mickey Spillane on Tomorrow with Tom Snyder. Their discussion of Vengeance Is Mine sent me rushing to my local paperback bookstore, and I read that novel and I, the Jury and a few other Spillanes as a result. Unfortunately, nobody was around to tell me that there were other books in this line that I really ought to read.

 
Fast forward to five years ago. A friend asks me, "Are you a Cornell Woolrich fan?" and I say "Who?" and he looks at me like I'm a Martian. So I read a bunch of Woolrich, and I've been reading as much of this stuff as I can ever since. Looking ahead, it appears that I will be teaching a class on noir in the Spring 2009 semester (so I'm trying my best to be a fast learner!). As that date approaches and I start cobbling a syllabus together, I'm sure that I will have many things to ask you folks about. . . .

 
Nice to meet you all,
David

 
From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Vorzimmer Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 11:27 AM To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Graphic Novels/Snobbery

 
That's about what I would have written had an extra 10-15 minutes. It probably reflects the opinion of a lot of use here.
Glad you found us, David. You're a good fit here.
Jeff



 

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