Lethem/"The Ecstasy of Influence" 1

Jonathan Lethem does condone plagiarism, but only because he sees it as necessary for ideas to grow, or to prove a point, as he did. He (someone else…) writes that nearly everything comes from something else. A landscape painting is a plagiarism of nature. Songs start out as the same chord progression as another, but are eventually changed to make something “new.” A writer’s work is about something they did not come up with, but changed to make it their own.

Lethem seems to believe that “imitation is a form of flattery.” Because I cannot cite this sentence, he would consider it plagiarism. But Lethem doesn’t mind it, because it supplements a point. He even states that anyone can take his ideas and use them, but not his exact words, because his ideas “were never mine in the first place, but I gave them to you.”

Lethem’s view on copyright laws is that they are hindering creativity. They are hypocritical: Walt Disney could take an idea from someone else, and then copyright it so that no one can use that same idea. And, Disney movies are repeatedly copyrighted, after expiration.

He writes that everyone plagiarizes, but it is mostly legal plagiarism. We have been familiar with certain things for so long, that it is difficult to remember where they came from to properly cite their sources.

Are quotes credited to “Anonymous” plagiarized because we cannot cite the source? I think Lethem would agree to that. But those credited as such usually choose to that “name,” I think. So, are they like Lethem in giving their ideas to others? Taking or being given ideas is alright, but not if they’re word for word.