k-punk

IT'S 3:30 A.M.. LET US SAY ONE IS 'COPYING FROM A BOOK'

Speaking of Ccru....

Undercurrent brings news of a stupefying example of 'plagiarism'. It actually goes far beyond plagiarism, since the culprit's typical MO involves reproducing the original texts with the odd word replaced, sometimes with comic effect. e.g. 'Coarse materialism' becomes 'course materialism.'

I don't think I've ever encountered quite so sustained an example of textual theft. What I love is that he has the gall to put 'copyright Adrian Gargett' on some of these witless collages.

Quite what the motive is for Gargett replacing words in the original texts is especially mysterious; it's not as if this will disguise the text to the reader who's familiar with it; but it effectively robs him of any argument that he is merely propagating the texts (in a way that bears out their machinic impersonality).

Some argue that Gargett is engaging in a Sokalesque spoof on the academy in which he exposes for ridicule the ludicrous laxness of peer review. Perhaps....

The whole thing is both utterly hilarious and terribly sad...