Masterpiece (scraps)

[rayheinrich]

"The duplicity of nail clippings is not strain'd,
It droppeth as a vexing rain from heaven."
                                - William Fakespeare


This isn't on the specific topic of the wonderful poem above,
but it does concern the spirit of the poem. (Hopefully, RSaba
will forgive me.)
----------------
Don Quixote is a good example of humorous 'serious' writing.
I excerpted these two paragraphs from an article by Daniel
Eisenberg that address this topic:

Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature
from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon.
As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the
earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of
the greatest works of fiction ever published.

Spanish as well as foreign readers of the time unanimously considered
Don Quixote to be a funny book. But many modern critics are reluctant
to see Don Quixote as a work of humor. The modern resistance to this
interpretation may arise from nationalism (“Don Quixote portrays the
spirit of Spain, so it cannot be comic”), the low prestige of humorous
writing (“Since Don Quixote is a classic, it cannot be a funny book”),
or a simple lack of familiarity with Cervantes’ literary and cultural
milieu. ...