Poetry over prose literary dispute culminated in fatal stabbing

A dispute over whether prose or poetry is the more important form of language for literature has ended with a death in Russia.

The literary killing happened on the night of January 20 in the Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals. A former teacher, 52, was a guest at the home of his 67-year-old friend in the town of Irbit.



The evening, which involved quite a few drinks, escalated into a heated debate over the place that poetry and prose hold in human culture.

“After some time the literary dispute turned into a common conflict, in which the poetry lover killed his opponent with a knife,” prosecutors said in a statement. The former teacher faces up to 15 years in jail for the crime.