Your loss. One of the most beautiful works of literature and short. Is the depiction of gay people that distressing to you? I read books about straights all the time.

Unfortunately activists have done a fantastic job turning gay into a broad political issue encompassing a lot of ideologies that many people find off-putting. So when you see a plot like this, your first thought is that 1) the author has a self righteous agenda and 2) the award is not deserved but rather given to signal sides in a culture war.

Neither of those things may be true. And that’s tragic because a lot of great work is going to be written off under these pretenses.

> your first thought is that

> 1) the author has a self righteous agenda and

> 2) the award is not deserved but rather given to signal sides in a culture war.

This is psychological projection from a debased information environment.

She has been studying classics, writing, and winning awards since at least 1975!

Quote: Carson is known to be reticent about her private life, and discourages autobiographical readings of her writings.Information about her in publications is often limited to the phrase: "Anne Carson was born in Canada and teaches ancient Greek for a living." While not a confessional poet, her work is considered personal. Carson has said that in her work, she uses her life democratically as just one set of facts among others in the world.

You should be less online so you don't lose your whole self to bottomless cynicism.

I should clarify that I personally would not write this off. But I understand the thinking a lot of people are using when they do.

> Unfortunately activists have done a fantastic job turning gay into a broad political issue encompassing a lot of ideologies that many people find off-putting

This is true of almost everything nowadays. I recoil at almost anything religious for similar reasons, even though I know not everybody that goes to church is a militant anti-abortionist christian nationalist. Nonetheless I will watch `The 10 Commandments` as it's still a very good example of the golden age of Hollywood epics.

When YOU see a plot like this. And that YOU see this says a lot more about YOU and your preoccupations with another person's sexuality. If you would just be honest and say "i don't like LGBT people", we'd save a lot of time.

I think you need to read what you’re replying to again, especially the last part.

The Nobel Prize in literature is given for a body of work, not for a specific publication. The book OP quotes does have gay characters but Anne Carson's body of work is hardly about LGBT issues specifically. Writing it off because of one sentence in an antagonistic comment is a bit strange. The Guardian article lists many other quotes of people describing what's compelling about her work.

> turning gay into a broad political issue encompassing a lot of ideologies that many people find off-putting

When was it otherwise?

I wouldn't call it "distressing", but we are entitled to like some genres and dislike others. Not everything should be for everyone. And generally some genres are over promoted by the big labels and imo have worse quality on average.

I don't really think poetry can reasonably be said to be a genre that's "over promoted by the big labels".