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Among literary critics and authors, plagiarism has been a perpetual debate in the 21st Century–we’ve reported on many, many stories over the years.GalleyCat Reviews covered the On Copyright 2010 conference yesterday, the many speakers focused on the crucial difference between remixing original content and plagiarism.
Author David Shields read an excerpt from his book Reality Hunger: A Manifesto: “This book contains hundreds of quotations that go unacknowledged in the body of the text. I’m trying to regain a freedom that writers from Montaigne to Burroughs took for granted and that we have lost … However, Random House lawyers determined that it was necessary for me to provide a complete list of citations for these quotations; the list follows (except, of course, for any sources I couldn’t find or forgot along the way).”
Not everyone agrees. The Book Bench has a round up of Reality Hunger reviews, remixing both critics and champions of the book. What do you think?
If you want to read more, Shields offered this solution for writers who also believe in remixing: “If you would like to restore this book to the form in which I intended it to be read, simply grab a sharp pair of scissors or a razor blade or box cutter and remove pages xxx-xxx by cutting along the dotted line.”