OK, this one baffles me. It came in my inbox one day:
Dear Dr. Gelman,
I am writing to inquire about the availability of obtaining a visiting scholar position in your institution. I’m a lecturer in ** Institute **. And I’m in my final year of doctoral study in ** University. Currently I’m working on my dissertation on the personal growth and national imagination in American romantic Bildungsroman. After my graduation in January 2024, I plan to start studying abroad for one year and this study program will be sponsored by **. If I could have the honor to be accepted, what I need from you is an invitation letter and your signed short CV for the ** approval process to visit your university.
I’ve been interested in American Literature and history for more than a decade. The close internal relationship between novel and history has always been attractive to me, which enables me to observe literary work from a wider perspective. As a Ph.D. candidate, I have narrowed down my research to the early or the first half of 19th century American Literature and mainly focus on the Bildungsormans during that period. The reasons are as follows: firstly, the personal growth of the protagonist can reflect the national imagination of the author, so through the development of a fictional character the history of a country can be demonstrated; secondly, too many scholars focus on the second half of 19th century novels and 20th century works, neglecting the beginning of American literature. When working in this area, I find that there has been a great gap between research in America and **. While only a couple of researchers in recent years have devoted their study in this period in **, a considerable amount of research has already been dedicated to Charles Brockden Brown and Catharine Maria Sedgwick in America. And in **, it’s very difficult to get first hand material about American writers. Theses drive me to look forward to studying in the US as a visiting scholar.
I have been learning and teaching English for over two decades. I got my B. A. in English Education in 2005 from ** University, the hometown of **. I studied as an English Language and Literature major and got M. A. in 2007 from ** University of **, **. And since then, I have been teaching College English courses in ** Institute **, **. This means that there won’t be a serious language barrier in my communication and study with you.
Desire for knowledge and academic progress pushes me to further study. From August 2007 to July 2020, I also developed some other academic interests besides literature, including college English teaching and multi-modal metaphor, the first of which mainly serves for my teaching work and the second was inspired by some teaching material. These extended my academic horizon on the one hand, but also showed my lack of adequate academic training on the other. In order to improve my academic performance, I applied to be a Ph.D. candidate and now to be a visiting scholar. I sincerely hope that I can study under your supervision.
In order to make you know me better, I enclose my CV. Any comment from you will be highly appreciated. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Sincerely yours,
**
Lecturer
School of Foreign Languages
** Institute ** **
Don’t they know that my real expertise is on Freud? OK, it seems I’m an expert on North Korea, too. But Charles Brockden Brown and Catharine Maria Sedgwick? I’d never heard of them!
This guy certainly values your posts on Updike.
ChatGPT-generated?
My thought exactly.
Googling “Andrew Gelman,” turns up some people who share your name. There are a few hits like that even on the first page. I suspect that there is an Andrew Gelman out there who is an academic involved in English literature, and the sender got you mixed up with him.
I say that because I receive requests like this from time to time from people in other countries who are looking for a position in the United States. The ones I get are from people seeking some kind of medical research position, though not in my niche. I have never gotten one that is so off-topic as this. But my name is uncommon and probably not shared by any academic in completely different subjects.
So I don’t think what you have there is spam. I think it’s just a bona fide inquiry intended for some other Andrew Gelman.
My eye caught this reversal of letters, first BildungsROmans then
BildungsORmans
And, in English, there is usually no letter “s” at the end. The rest of the sleuthing is up to others on this blog.
There’s serendipity – one fine day I googled a social psychologist whose first name I’d forgotten – and ten there’s GPT (LSD?).
“Wieland” by Charles Brockden Brown was the book my now-wife gave me on our first date. It is great—and totally bonkers, as it begins with a spontaneous combustion in a gazebo. I recommend getting the Penguin Classics edition. The editor’s intro is incredibly insightful (but save it for afterwards).
Did he ask for your bank account and social security numbers, too?