Plagiarism Definition

Lethem’s essay, “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism,” and Rutgers’ policy on academic integrity both share an understanding of the modern view of plagiarism, but differ in its interpretation; Lethem sees plagiarism in a positive light, while Rutgers University sees the opposite. Lethem’s first two sections, “Love and Theft” and “Contamination Anxiety,” seem to deal most directly with the term plagiarism compared with the rest of his essay. In the first paragraph on page 213, Lethem recalls his experience of reading one of William S. Burroughs’ writings and describes its “coruscating brilliance,” unlike any literature he has read before. Later, Lethem “discovered that Burroughs had incorporated snippets of others’ texts into his work, an action [he] knew [his] teachers would have described as plagiarism” (213). Burroughs’ writing would be considered as a serious offense in academic integrity according to Rutgers’ policy, which indicates that plagiarism can take the form of copying verbatim from another source without properly citing or giving credit to the source. Nevertheless, in Lethem’s eyes, “Burroughs was interrogating the universe with scissors and a paste pot, and the least imitative of authors was no plagiarist at all” (213). Even after acknowledging the plagiarism present, Lethem describes Burroughs’ writing process favourably. Although not strictly defining his view of plagiarism in this passage, he seems to say that copying and pasting is not necessarily imitative. On page 214, Lethem gives more examples plagiarism (the modern definition). After analyzing famous works by artists and writers such as Francis Bacon and Martin Luther King Jr., Lethem concludes that “appropriation, mimicry, quotation, allusion, and sublimated collaboration consist of a kind of sine qua non [or essential element] of the creative act” (214). According to him, every “original” work must have its origins or influence elsewhere. On the other hand, Rutgers’ policy is against this idea, saying that plagiarism can take the form of claiming another person’s ideas as their own. Since Rutgers University views plagiarism negatively, it would also view works in general as plagiarism, according to Lethem.