Althouse: Murder victim insisted that "the only real literature is prose."

January 30, 2014

Murder victim insisted that "the only real literature is prose."

Victim and murderer were — it says here — friends and, also, drunk.

(Via Slog.)

18 comments:

Tibore said...: I'd likely stab myself instead if I discovered my friend's choice of inebriated debate topics was literature.; 1/30/14, 10:39 AM
Cliff said...: That's quite an insult!; 1/30/14, 10:42 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Sounds like he had it coming.; 1/30/14, 10:59 AM
Clyde said...: That's what you call a 'sharp retort.'; 1/30/14, 11:16 AM
Clyde said...: And "both drunk at the time"? That's "dog-bites-man" in Russia. Like saying that two North Koreans were both hungry at the time...; 1/30/14, 11:17 AM
mccullough said...: In fairness to the victim, Russian novels are better than Russian poetry.; 1/30/14, 11:21 AM
Alex said...: Now that's how they do it in Soviet Russia.

In Soviet Russia, literature READS you.; 1/30/14, 12:02 PM
Revenant said...: I'm in agreement with the murder victim on this one.; 1/30/14, 12:25 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: That's what you call poetic justice.; 1/30/14, 12:30 PM
CStanley said...: @Ignorance is Bliss-
But did he have a poetic license to kill?; 1/30/14, 12:52 PM
Jaq said...: Has anybody here seen any decent poetry in English since about the time of the death of Robert Frost?

I don't mean hyper-effete stuff, I mean poetry that somebody could read and understand without having been trained to it that wasn't basically just somebody's therapy. Maybe some of the stuff that Anthony Burgess wrote as a goof in his novel Enderby.

And get off of my lawn!; 1/30/14, 1:39 PM
Jaq said...: I forgot about Betamax's blog.; 1/30/14, 1:40 PM
Valentine Smith said...: Them Russkies sure are sentimental about their literature, ain't they?; 1/30/14, 1:57 PM
mccullough said...: Tim,

John Asbery is very good. Elizabeth Bishop, too. If you like Robert Frost, you will probably like Richard Wilbur.; 1/30/14, 3:11 PM
mccullough said...: Also, Tom McGrath has some good poetry. As for non-americans, Seamus Heaney is also very good.; 1/30/14, 3:15 PM
The Godfather said...: "stabbing his friend". Doesn't that really require that they be "former" friends?

Et tu Brute? Then die Caesar!; 1/30/14, 4:41 PM
rcocean said...: "The man, whose name has been withheld, was placed under arrest and charged with murder, punishable with up to 15 years in prison."

UP TO 15 years? Wow, Russia really throws the book at you.; 1/30/14, 7:46 PM
rcocean said...: And he was right, the only true Literature IS prose. When's the last time anyone wrote a poem anyone cared about? 1950?; 1/30/14, 7:47 PM