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 careers in my most recent novel, The Red Badge of Gatsby.      My accusers claim that in this book, my twenty-seventh in the last three years, I lifted sections from, among other sources, A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Pride and Prejudice, Goldfinger, Go, Dog. Go and the Lands End holiday catalog.      Friends eat urged me to follow the example of another celebrated author who latterly responded to similar allegations with a public apology. I must remind them, however, that write 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 reddened Letter      Hester Prynne, said he, leaning over the balcony and expression down unwaveringly into her eyes, thou hearest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labor.      Now, here is the questionable similar passage from my work   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 diagram? A dog party A dog party A dog party in the tree      Those determined to find horror intent will, of course, focus on certain surface 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 address of his own.      When I write a book, I never go anyplace near a blank page. Instead, I buy an already written book and start crossing out the words I have no intention of using.