Imaginary Boundaries

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• Something Borrowed, Something New

  From poet and classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz of UMass-Boston on Fresh Air : For more than 50 years Pierre Boulez has been at the forefront of classical music as a composer, conductor and radical thinker. He turned 85 years old in March and shows little sign of slowing down, with a continuing flow of […]

• Johanna Blakley: Lessons from fashion’s free culture

  The culture of copying: “What is the kind of ownership model in a digital world that’s gonna lead to the most innovation?” from the talk: The Virtues of Copying Democratization of Fashion Faster Establishment of Global Trends Induced Obsolescence Acceleration in Creative Innovation For more, see readytoshare.org This has been a big issue on Imaginary […]

• If I Was a Master Thief III

  (In Part I, instances of plagiarism in Dylan’s most recent works were discussed, plus the common practice of appropriation in the blues, folk, and jazz traditions, along with findings of similar thefts in the literary tradition. With help from Richard F. Thomas, Jonathan Lethem, and Lawrence Lessig, an examination of appropriation’s crucial role in creativity […]

• If I Was a Master Thief, Perhaps I’d Rob Them (part II)

  (In Part I, instances of plagiarism in Bob Dylan’s most recent works were discussed, plus the common practice of appropriation in the blues, folk, and jazz traditions, along with findings of similar thefts in the literary tradition.) To Live Outside the Law, You Must Be Honest Jonathan Lethem’s study of Bob Dylan’s appropriations, “The Ecstasy […]

• If I Was a Master Thief, Perhaps I’d Rob Them: Bob Dylan, Plagiarism, Freshman Composition, and the “Cult of Originality”

  They’re Planting Stories in the Press After spending many years among the has-beens, a once renowned performer releases a series of well-received albums. Before long, amid the new rave reviews, reports surface that some lines from these new albums have been stolen from an obscure nineteenth century poet, a Japanese gangster novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry […]