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Re: Intellectual Fraud (fwd)
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From: Kyle Seifried <kseif@one.net>
you wrote:
> to intentionally draw the focus away from Nabokov in a sense, could
> someone
> first explain to his definition of intellectual fraud and if you all agree
> with it. and are any of you familiar with the works of Kathy Acker, who
> depending on the definition of intellectual fraud, might whole-heartedly
> fit the categorical description........
>
> Brian
I suppose intellectual fraud would be the blatant stealing of both ideas and
words, without any recognition of the action. However, you brought up Kathy
Acker and have opened a large can of worms. Kathy Acker, until her recent
death, practiced openly her theory of pla(y)giarism. She would freely admit
that her novels were, at heart reworkings of previous texts. This was part of
her aesthetic statement. The same holds true for much of Burroughs, and the
current music of hip-hop and electronica (c.f. Negativland or the
Tape-Beatles). Samples abound. Not all of these samples are going to be
footnoted, or even singled out, but the fact that Kathy Acker pla(y)giarised
large chunks of William Gibson's _Neuromancer_ for her wonderful _Empire of
the Senseless_, or that she rewrote sections of Stevenson's _Treasure Island_
for her final novel _Pussy, King of the Pirates_ is well known, and she would
freely admit to such practice in interviews and discussions. Pla(y)giarism has
come to be seen as perhaps the only viable means of expression the postmodern
age where everything else has already been done. It is now left to the artist
to do as he/she has always done, only now in a more blatant form, and rework
the cultural detriment that surrounds her. I could carry on further about this
topic, something I am very interested in discussing, but I do not believe that
this is the appropriate forum. Anyone that is interested is advised to contact
me, I'll be more than happy to point out some critical work done on this
topic, as well as discuss this issue at greater length.
Kyle Seifried
you wrote:
> to intentionally draw the focus away from Nabokov in a sense, could
> someone
> first explain to his definition of intellectual fraud and if you all agree
> with it. and are any of you familiar with the works of Kathy Acker, who
> depending on the definition of intellectual fraud, might whole-heartedly
> fit the categorical description........
>
> Brian
I suppose intellectual fraud would be the blatant stealing of both ideas and
words, without any recognition of the action. However, you brought up Kathy
Acker and have opened a large can of worms. Kathy Acker, until her recent
death, practiced openly her theory of pla(y)giarism. She would freely admit
that her novels were, at heart reworkings of previous texts. This was part of
her aesthetic statement. The same holds true for much of Burroughs, and the
current music of hip-hop and electronica (c.f. Negativland or the
Tape-Beatles). Samples abound. Not all of these samples are going to be
footnoted, or even singled out, but the fact that Kathy Acker pla(y)giarised
large chunks of William Gibson's _Neuromancer_ for her wonderful _Empire of
the Senseless_, or that she rewrote sections of Stevenson's _Treasure Island_
for her final novel _Pussy, King of the Pirates_ is well known, and she would
freely admit to such practice in interviews and discussions. Pla(y)giarism has
come to be seen as perhaps the only viable means of expression the postmodern
age where everything else has already been done. It is now left to the artist
to do as he/she has always done, only now in a more blatant form, and rework
the cultural detriment that surrounds her. I could carry on further about this
topic, something I am very interested in discussing, but I do not believe that
this is the appropriate forum. Anyone that is interested is advised to contact
me, I'll be more than happy to point out some critical work done on this
topic, as well as discuss this issue at greater length.
Kyle Seifried