Inspiration or infringement: The plagiarist in court

Alexander, I

Inspiration or infringement: The plagiarist in court

Alexander, I

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Publication Type:: Chapter
Citation:: Copyright and Piracy: An Interdisciplinary Critique, 2010, pp. 3 - 16
Issue Date:: 2010-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Alexander, I https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1343-3572	en_US
dc.date.issued	2010-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Copyright and Piracy: An Interdisciplinary Critique, 2010, pp. 3 - 16	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	9780521193436	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30024
dc.description.abstract	© Cambridge University Press 2010. In Maurice Shadbolt's novel, The House of Strife, the protagonist Ferdinand Wildblood finds himself fleeing London for Blackguard Beach in New Zealand, in the year 1840. Wildblood's crime was plagiarism and the destination is more than ironic. As a hack writer, Wildblood had been asked to edit a manuscript by a man called James Dinwiddie which tells a blood-curdling tale of murder, mayhem, battle and bravery, lust and lasciviousness in the far-flung colony of New Zealand. Finding the writing style impenetrable and the storyline highly improbable, Wildblood rewrites the work, under the pseudonym of Henry Youngman. The story is a runaway success and Youngman becomes the toast of London. But Dinwiddie catches up with Wildblood and, in fear for his life, Wildblood jumps aboard the first ship for New Zealand. While in New Zealand, Wildblood becomes caught up in the Maori wars initiated by the young Maori chief, John, or Hone, Heke. After numerous hair-raising adventures, Wildblood returns to spend his twilight years in London. But at the point of finishing his first-hand, original, account of what will become known as the ‘Flagstaff Wars’, he is tracked down in his gentleman's club by Dinwiddie and meets his mysterious, uncertain, fate at the hands of his nemesis. Wildblood has perpetrated a literary ‘crime’ against the ‘original author’, for which he pays dearly. In fiction, then, a rough justice is meted out against literary offenders. In real life too, plagiarists may be punished by institutional sanctions or social stigma.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Copyright and Piracy: An Interdisciplinary Critique	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1017/CBO9780511761577.002	en_US
dc.title	Inspiration or infringement: The plagiarist in court	en_US
dc.type	Chapter
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
dc.location.activity	Adelaide
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© Cambridge University Press 2010. In Maurice Shadbolt's novel, The House of Strife, the protagonist Ferdinand Wildblood finds himself fleeing London for Blackguard Beach in New Zealand, in the year 1840. Wildblood's crime was plagiarism and the destination is more than ironic. As a hack writer, Wildblood had been asked to edit a manuscript by a man called James Dinwiddie which tells a blood-curdling tale of murder, mayhem, battle and bravery, lust and lasciviousness in the far-flung colony of New Zealand. Finding the writing style impenetrable and the storyline highly improbable, Wildblood rewrites the work, under the pseudonym of Henry Youngman. The story is a runaway success and Youngman becomes the toast of London. But Dinwiddie catches up with Wildblood and, in fear for his life, Wildblood jumps aboard the first ship for New Zealand. While in New Zealand, Wildblood becomes caught up in the Maori wars initiated by the young Maori chief, John, or Hone, Heke. After numerous hair-raising adventures, Wildblood returns to spend his twilight years in London. But at the point of finishing his first-hand, original, account of what will become known as the ‘Flagstaff Wars’, he is tracked down in his gentleman's club by Dinwiddie and meets his mysterious, uncertain, fate at the hands of his nemesis. Wildblood has perpetrated a literary ‘crime’ against the ‘original author’, for which he pays dearly. In fiction, then, a rough justice is meted out against literary offenders. In real life too, plagiarists may be punished by institutional sanctions or social stigma.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30024