Lethem Research Assignment

In the final section, "Give All," Lethem existentially describes his career in writing: "As a novelist, I'm a cork on the ocean of story, a leaf on a windy day. Pretty soon I'll be blown away" (Lethem 225). This description, while intriguing and unique-seeming in context, is not of Lethem's own creation, rather Brian Wilson's of the Beach Boys. The original source is a song called "'Til I Die," which introspectively explores Wilson's ideas of personal mortality in terms of the immensity and infiniteness of nature. Wilson is essentially saying that his life is insignificant in comparison to the world's eternity, and that while he is present in the current chaos of life, he will soon be forgotten as a small detail in the bigger picture. Similarly, Lethem feels that his role as a writer, while it is currently relevant, will soon pass as more writers publish and others' prevalence fades. He deepens the connection to his own writing, and gives it a contrastingly more optimistic tone, by explaining that he is grateful for this part in the larger community of creativity, regardless of how small, because it allows others to potentially draw influence from his work and develop innovative "second-lives" for his pieces, just as an artist did with his novel (Lethem 219). Beyond this example, the use of "plagiarism" in Lethem's essay gave me a new outlook on the meaning of the word, as well as the connotations placed on it. From a young age, students are taught that plaigarims is awful and should never be done, but Lethem's piece shows other uses and examples of the act that present it in a creative and collective light. The adaptation of Wilson's lyrics to describe Lethem's own purpose is written smoothly, as if the function of a song's lyrics are to intertwine the author's ideas with one's own to produce a sense of connection. Plagiarism in Lethem's piece, as well as in the aforementioned example, is portrayed as a necessary evil in cultural and artistic creativity, appreciation, and understanding.