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lucia-pacciola t1_j6nrgik wrote

Any chance at a summary of the conflict and its principals? Or is this just a clickbait headline shilling for the Guardian?

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Kousaroe t1_j6nsmxk wrote

Seems strange they wouldn't want to explain it and just links to an article :/

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TheOracleArt t1_j6obu3u wrote

Having just read through it, it's a hard one to explain. It's the blurry line of where inspiration stops and plagiarism starts. It's easier with writing and books, being able to compare one written text to another and note the similar sentence structures, phrases etc.

The author mentioned here did plagiarize, but it almost comes across as reusing someone's anecdote, to me anyway. I've alluded to people I know; their mannerisms, their backgrounds, their stories etc in my writing (not that I'm published, it's just for fun). When an anecdote is told orally and then you rejig it to fit a character or narrative in your story, most people wouldn't view this as plagiarism. We know of lots of authors who have used real-life people and their experiences as the basis of their novels. With already published text though, well, it's a far more clear-cut case. The question is whether it's done knowingly, maliciously, as a homage or just by genuine unconscious osmosis of others' works.

I don't know where this author falls. I would say that the text is far too similar to be some unconscious thing. Seems like the blog writer doesn't know either.

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