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The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism by Jonathan Lethem

Plagiarism  or Inspiration? Many artists including me do not start from nowhere. We tend to be influenced by history, surroundings, each other, or etc. The connectivity of influences has resulted out series of movements in art world. For instance, artists have found impressionism, fauvism, cubism, and so on. In the field of computer science, influences could be seen as risks of hacking. In the field of literature, some writers might call similarities of ideas as plagiarism.

In the essay, The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism, the author demonstrates his views on adopting ideas and how people call the activity as plagiarism or not. He argues that sharing ideas and getting influences somewhat promote creativeness and generate next movement. He quotes, “Finding one’s voice isn’t just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses.” I agree with his argument on embracing filiations. As I mention above, humans develop further to the next step as they get inspirations each other. For instance, John Currin is a current painter, and his artworks contain satirical figurative paintings. They show a wide range of influences including renaissance and romanticism.

 

These “contemporary” paintings of Currin are critiqued as a new type of genre in fine arts. His approaches to mix contemporary art and renaissance could have not been possible if he hasn’t been inspired by any. Then, should audience denounce his works for adopting others’ styles? I personally think that we should rather support each other to get inspired.

 

 

 

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