[lit-ideas] Re: Dark Thoughts on Iraq
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:38:50 -0400
> [Original Message]
> From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 9/30/2005 9:23:58 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Dark Thoughts on Iraq
>
>
> AA:
> >> Good fences make good neighbors.
>
>
> Current in America as early as 1850, "Good fences make good neighbors"
can
> be traced to the Spanish, "Una pared entre dos vezinos guarda mas (haze
> durar) la amistad," which goes back at least to the Middle Ages. In this
> form, Vicesimus Knox translated it for his compendium of Elegant Extracts
in
> 1797, and in 1832 Emerson recorded it in his journal-"A wall between
both,
> best preserves friendship." That Frost encountered the idea in Emerson's
> published journals is probable, though it seems more likely that he found
> its precise expression elsewhere.
> http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/wall.htm
>
> It always amuses me when people quote this proverb especially when they
> preface it with literary showmanship: "As Robert Frost wrote...." But
they
> always seem completely oblivious to the fact that Frost was being
sincerely
> sarcastic. So much so that I can't believe anyone would continue to use
the
> proverb in an unironic way. But there you go.
>
Whether or not Frost was being sarcastic is interesting but irrelevant to
this discussion, since I didn't have him in mind when I quoted it. Good
fences do make good neighbors. If you think otherwise, some explanation or
example of why you think so would be appreciated.
Andy Amago
> Mike Geary
> chanting a line of Amiri Baraka
> "Up against the wall, motherfucker!"
>
>
>
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