--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, thefool75 <no_reply_at_y...> wrote:
> > And yet it's still an Anthony Burgess clue leading into a
> >Shakespeare
> > question.
>
> Is this inherently problematic? It's a genuine lit clue leading into
> a lit question.
I find the notion that there might be anything in the least problematic
about such mixing utterly baffling and a bit disturbing. Nor, to my
mind, does it particularly matter whether the mixing is all within a
single overall subject area (like lit) or not. Any division of
knowledge into subject categories is ultimately an artificial construct
anyway, and while we do certainly find such contructs useful,
particularly in ensuring desired standards for diversity of question
topics, we should at the same time value individual questions that
subvert the tyranny of categories. In my experience, many of the best
quizbowl questions freely cross or mix subject/disciplinary lines, and
so long as it is done elegantly and still (for tossups) with clues
progressing from harder to easier, I applaud that.
Eric H.