Discussion Questions – for Thurs. 10/29

Reading to be discussed: Jonathan Lethem, “The Ecstasy of Influence”

General questions about plagiarism:

1.  Think about your past experiences discussing plagiarism in classes?  How do those discussions make you feel?  Were they productive?

2.  Can you think of examples from your daily life that might could as plagiarism?

3.  What are some examples of sampling, copying, or non-cited use of other people’s work in the music, films, books, or other cultural items you encounter regularly?

Here are some questions intended to help you analyze and reflect on Jonathan Lethem’s essay “The Ecstasy of Influence,” which puts pressure on our notions of plagiarism:

1. Lethem says: “Plagiarism and piracy, after all, are the monsters we working artists are taught to dread, as they roam the wood surrounding our tiny preserves of regard and remuneration.”  Does this line up with your own experiences of being taught about plagiarism?  Why or why not?

2.  Lethem points out that technology is changing the way we think about issues of plagiarism, copying, and copyright.  What ways do you see technology as a force that changes the ways we think about these things?

3.  What is the difference between a market economy and a gift economy, at least according to Lethem?  Is a gift economy even possible in our current society?

4. How do we unpack this idea, especially as members of a class that puts a lot of focus on collaboration: “That a language is a commons doesn’t mean that the community owns it; rather it belongs between people, possessed by no one, not even a society as a whole.”?

5. Lethem says “Contemporary copyright, trademark, and patent law is corrupted.”  Do you agree or disagree?  Why?

6.  The “notes” section at the end of the essay are part of Lethem’s central argument.  What were your reactions when you came to this section when you started reading it?

7.  How does this essay and Lethem’s argument make you feel?  Do you agree with it?  Why or why not?  Does it affect the way you think about plagiarism at all, and why/why not?

8.  What are some examples of sampling, copying, or non-cited use of other people’s work in the music, films, books, or other cultural items you encounter regularly?