Telegraph – Three Percent /College/translation/threepercent a resource for international literature at the University of Rochester Mon, 16 Apr 2018 17:38:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The Complete End to Literature As We Know It /College/translation/threepercent/2007/08/27/the-complete-end-to-literature-as-we-know-it/ /College/translation/threepercent/2007/08/27/the-complete-end-to-literature-as-we-know-it/#respond Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.wdev.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent-dev/2007/08/27/the-complete-end-to-literature-as-we-know-it/ The Telegraph has finally said what we (read: I) all (read: me, again) knew to be true. Smoking bans kill literature—in this case, English lit. Overblown poppycock, you say? Bollox. Tongue-in-cheek, it may be, but read and feel shame for the last time you selfishly complained that fear of inoperable cancer was ruining your Yorkshire pudding. Here’s a taste:

This attack on basic liberty, which was allowed through without any significant protest, might mark the end not merely of smoking, but of literature.

A little over the top? Perhaps. Or maybe is not nearly a little over the top enough1.

1 In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that I am, indeed, a smoker; I romanticize death by consumption; I sternly believe that etc.; etc.; etc., . . .

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