Lethem’s definition of plagiarism is innately different from what is enforced in academic environments. Plagiarism in an academic setting is primarily used to cut corners or feign hard work, whereas the plagiarism Lethem calls for involves the creative reworking of existing material in a new form. Lethem describes some examples of his “plagiarism:”
Consider the remarkable series of plagiarisms that links Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe” with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, or Shakespeare’s description of Cleopatra, copied nearly verbatim from Plutarch’s life of Mark Antony and also later nicked by T. S. Eliot for The Waste Land. If these are examples of plagiarism, then we want more plagiarism. (Lethem 214)
Take, for example, Romeo and Juliet and the West Side Story, as Lethem suggests. Romeo and Juliet served as entertainment to people in the 1600s, while the characters in West Side Story are New Yorkers with guns. In essence, the same story has been reworked for a more modern audience. This is in no way reminiscent of academic plagiarism, since the creators of West Side Story brought the story to modern times, transforming it into a form that modern people could enjoy without the aid of a shakespearean dictionary. Another difference between the two would be the motive. While academic plagiarism carries little respect for the original author, Lethem’s definition of plagiarism innately involves a respect and admiration for the original author’s work. By adapting Romeo and Juliet into a modern form, the creators of West Side Story allowed a wider range of people to enjoy shakespeare’s work without being off-put by the outdated language of shakespearean plays. It was clear that the creators wanted more people to enjoy and experience this story. Ultimately, the distinction between Lethem’s plagiarism and academic plagiarism is extremely important to a student. Lethem is not advocating the sort of plagiarism that undermines the work of others, but is instead advocating work that honors the original authors, reworking their ideas into new forms.
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