The ECSTACY of influence

Lethem has written a piece of work about plagiarism apply named The Ecstasy of Influence, because the truth of the matter is that plagiarism isn't what modern definitions claim it is. According to Lethem, and I believe he's 100% correct, plagiarism is nothing more than the borrowing of others ideas, and being smart enough to write them down rather than simply voice them. Also, he comments on modern man's obsession (my words, not his) to monopolize everything, in the section of his essay that is titled 'Usemonopoly'.

The idea that culture can be property—intellectual property—is used to justify everything from attempts to force the Girl Scouts to pay royalties for singing songs around campfires to the infringement suit brought by the estate of Margaret Mitchell against the publishers of Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone.

Intellectual property, defined to me as ones individual thoughts and emotions, is something that Lethem clearly criticizes by saying it's used to 'justify' such trivial and personal things such as a pack of Girl Scouts singing campfire songs, and has even gotten to the point where a genetics corporation known as Celera Genomics has started to patent certain genes. Upon reading that, I'm hit with this thought. Really? Someone out there has gone so far as to patent a gene? What happens when (and it must happen someday, for though there are infinite possible gene combinations, that one specific one will be picked one day) someone is born with those genes? Do they get sued for all the money they'll ever make in their whole life? It's stupid and useless.

An amusing and quite interesting anecdote that Lethem recites is the story of his first novel. Apparently, a very talented artist as a gift to Lethem had taken his very first novel and carved it onto a gun, which he then presented to Lethem. At this, Lethem says that he is lucky enough that the world has enough room for both his first novel in print and on a gun, and he doesn't need to pick between the two. In my opinion, this is sort of an ecstasy for him, perhaps a strange fetishistic (yes thats a real word, it's the adjective form of fetish, I looked it up) connection between him and his first novel. It's interesting to me that he can enjoy such a small victory.