Jim Devine asked, >What's your definition of prose, Tom? Ain't them the guys what get paid for playin' ball? Seriously, though, At the risk of offending Doug Henwood's PoMo PoLiCe, my definition of prose is that it's a collection of minor, occasionally utilitarian sub-genres of epic. Just in case you think I'm making this, see Bakhtin's "Discourse in the Novel" particularly the parts on "authoritative discourse" (_Dialogic Imagination_, pp. 343-345). In these passages, Bakhtin talks about the "many and varied types of authoritative discourse (for example, the authority of religious dogma, or of acknowledged scientific truth or of a currently fashionable book)..." Elsewhere Bakhtin argues for the novel's discourse as having descended from the epic form. Central also to the "literacy/orality" debates (Walter Ong, etc.) is the argument that poetry predates prose. Perhaps the joke on Moliere's bourgeois gentilhomme is that he was speaking prose all along when he should have been speaking *dialogue*. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knoW Ware Communications Vancouver, B.C., CANADA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 688-8296 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm
