Plagiarism and The Red Badge of The Great Gatsby :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Red Badge of Gatsby   Last week, several journalists accused me of plagiarizing entire passages in my most recent novel, The Red Badge of Gatsby.      My accusers claim that in this book, my 27th in the last three years, I lifted sections from, among separate sources, A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice, Goldfinger, Go, Dog. Go and the Lands End vacation catalog.      Friends have urged me to follow the example of another celebrated originator who recently responded to similar allegations with a public apology. I must remind them, however, that copying what other writers have already done is exactly what got me into this mess.      Let us take a look, then, at the passage my accusers allege I appropriated from Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter      Hester Prynne, utter he, leaning over the balcony and looking down steadfastly into her eyes, thou hearest what this good man says, and se est the accountability under which I labor.      Now, here is the so-called similar passage from my elaborate   Hester Prynne, said he, leaning over the balcony, and looking down steadfastly into her eyes, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and what is up in that tree? A dog party A dog party A dog party in the tree      Those determined to find evil intent will, of course, focus on certain climb similarities between my passage and Hawthornes. But readers who expect an authors work to be totally free of literary influences are, I believe, hopelessly na&239ve about the writing process, magining that an author creates a book by arduously filling up blank pages with words of his own.      When I write a book, I never go anywhere near a blank page. Instead, I buy an already written book and start crossing out the words I have no intention of using.