Downton vs. Brideshead

Some were always bound to draw comparisons between the work of the marvelous Evelyn Waugh (one of the W. trio: Wilde, Waugh, and Wodehouse) and the highbrow soap opera Downton Abbey, both of which being well-known chronicles of British aristocratic decline. Alexander Nazaryan knows where he stands:

Waugh was a master in balancing genuine feeling and humor (a dagger thrust at the end with that “concealed typewriter” business). Not only in “Brideshead,” but (to a slightly lesser extent) in “A Handful of Dust” and “Decline and Fall,” he captures the exact shade of twilight of the British Empire - which is precisely what “Downton Abbey” also strives to accomplish.

Best of all, Waugh’s novels have gotten the four star (or is it five star? I can never remember) treatment from Back Bay Books, which has put out all of his novels in fresh paperback editions - you know, the kind you open and read and can’t use to check your email. I discovered this, for better or worse, because Waugh’s novels are not available on Kindle. But I am actually glad, and have been collecting the Back Bay editions of Waugh in a way I rarely do anymore; they’re worth it for the cover art alone.[...] And when you’re done with that, you won’t know “Downton Abbey” from “Mr. Bean.” Trust me.

It's a dull comparison to make, don't you think? Salman Rushdie has already made his views clear on the show, but he wasn't so boring as to link it to great literature. Learn to distinguish, people, please!