Allusion as Homage vs. Plagiarism

allusion - noun - an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; indirect or passing reference.

homage - noun - special honor or respect shown publicly. 

plagiarism - noun - the practice of taking someone's own work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.

(Google)

The older I get on a daily basis, the more I question the current culture's ability to differentiate between right and wrong, morally and ethically. Currently as school curriculums (particularly those related to English) are being modified to suit the highly sensitive sensibilities of woke parents, some classic authors and originators are no longer being read or taught, which is dangerous, potentially unlawful. If the majority is clueless regarding the creations of the past, how can it discern the difference between allusion for the sake of clarification, allusion as homage, or downright plagiarism from an author who is perhaps knowledgeable? The answer is–you guessed it–it can't, opening up a whole can of worms.

Last night, I started to read Andrew Lipstein's novel The Last Resort, a new release focusing on the theme of plagiarism that the New York Times extolled as the "Editor's Pick." My book club, a collection of friends, fellow, former colleagues at the high school where I taught, chose it for the month of April as all of them had taught Andrew as a student. (Yes, he is the newly indoctrinated local hero.) No doubt since plagiarism is rife in all middle and high schools (sorry to disappoint), Andrew probably conceived of his fictive work's focus at that particular juncture in his life. On the first page of the book, the literary agent of the protagonist, an inchoate novelist, is wowed by his latest manuscript, yet in passing, inquires as to the plot of his client's next project. At that point, the protagonist (the first-person narrator) rattles off the premise of E.A. Poe's dark short story, "The Masque of the Red Death," and the agent, oblivious of the classic's storyline, accepts it at face value as an original idea. Obviously, Lipstein's intention is not to allude or pay homage to the writer Poe, but to foreshadow a future event in the plot that most likely will involve plagiarism. But how many of Lipstein's peers (those around the age of 27) would be aware initially of his purpose if they never read "The Masque of the Red Death"? In this case ignorance is just ignorance sans bliss since right from the get-go, the readers are missing out on the big idea.

An actual pronounced example from current reality involves the bestselling author Amor Towles and his recent release The Lincoln Highway, which was our book club's selection for January. My friend and colleague Candace who instructed Mark Twain's forever relevant The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for years picked up on the fact that Towles "borrows" characters and scenes generously from Twain (a.k.a. Sam Clemens) throughout The Lincoln Highway. Another member of the group argued that perhaps Towles' intention was to play homage via allusion, yet most of us felt that Towles meant to bamboozle his readers by passing the concepts off as his own, which I found ironic since one of the main themes apparent in Huck Finn is gullibility. Our suspicions were confirmed after Candace had contacted the author via email, and in his response, all he could do was skirt the issue by asking her if she liked the book. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Towles may just have to rethink his next idea for a novel if he is now worried about being accused of plagiarism. 

Some of you querulous types might be asking, But what about copyrighting? Doesn't the Library of Congress protect artistic works from being copied? Yes and no. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been in print for over a hundred years, meaning that it is now in the public domain, which opens up a few legitimate avenues for would-be thieves. What anyone in the arts who likes to "borrow" from others should do is come clean. Give credit where credit is due wherever and whenever possible. Although most walk the tightrope between right and wrong, stealing of anything is still a form of dishonesty and deemed unacceptable (although that may just change in the next decade or so). I'm just hoping people will seek to educate themselves so that they will be able to discern when they are being fooled into thinking an artist is a genius when he or she is really just a charlatan with little imagination. 

#spilledthoughts, #vocabulary, #wordtowords, #advice