Something that rarely comes up in copyright law, although it is a violation, is plagarism. Not the type where someone replaces the authors name with their own, but the mosre subtle one where well read writers end up putting phrasing into their own works from someone else’s. Sometimes it is unintentional, other time it is simply the best way to say something. Even I can’t say that there isn’t a Henry Miller phrasing or two in my first (unpublished) novel as I read the entire Rosy Crusifiction trilogy while writing my book.
What is a reader to do when a turn of phrase seems too good to be true? Google to the rescue, of course. Google Books http://books.google.com/ has added a new feature, “Popular Passages” to the sidebar. When looking at a book, you can check there to see who has quoted the book and which passages are most quoted. Anyone can guess that a number of these later “quotes” are actually passages being ripped off by another writer. It took me 2 books to find my first. I first checked Henry Miller’s Sexus. Nothing. Next, Eugene O’Neil’s play “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” Paydirt. Kinda.
Here is the ONeil phrase:
“brushing cobwebs from her brain— vaguely.) That was in the winter of senior year. Then in the spring something happened to me. Yes, I remember. I fell in love with James Tyrone and was so happy for a time. (She stares before her in a sad dream. Tyrone…”
and here is one from “The Idiots Karamazov” by Christopher Durang & Albert Innaurato:
“…after I graduate and live as other girls live. ANAIS. Isn’t she pathetic? MRS. KARAMAZOV. That was the winter of senior year. Then in the spring something…happened to me. Yes, I remember. I fell in love with Fyodor Karamazov and was so happy for a time. ANAIS. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you ALYOSHA KARAMAZOV!…”
Ah, but the second was a play lampooning western literature with the Bros. K as a dropoff point. It seems the resembelance here was entirely intentional. Time for a more obscure and sublime work that would make a tempting target for a struggling writer. Of course, we need
Slate pointed out last year that Google books would enable uncovering these past literary crimes, but now Google has now automated the process. Happy hunting
Filed under: Copyright
