Comments on: Who owns culture? J D Salinger, J K Rowling and the line between derivation and infringement

By: Karen James

Karen James — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:33:43 +0000

What I suppose the author J.D Salinger was trying to do was inform many readers what he was capable of as an author. Everything that was written in Catcher in the Rye was very important to my mind,and it touched my thoughts.

By: Jerome Stueart

Jerome Stueart — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:18:39 +0000

I hear you, Kian. I guess plots that happen after HP with a magical school might make people pause and wonder if it’s derivative…but there’s no copyright on magical schools–and we’ve had schools for superheroes, schools for those who work with lightning, etc. School will almost always show its face in a young adult or kid’s novel somewhere–and if that book is magical…

I’d say that authors need to be careful of even “original” magical schools post HP, but making the characters stand out makes the book memorable.

What we love about Catcher is not that it’s set at a prep school–been there, done that (in the 60s especially)–but that it’s Holden, he’s ditching the school in favor of trying to figure out life. It’s his journey that attracts us, not the school.

Hopefully, the journeys of characters will completely outweigh their settings, although Rowling made that school as memorable as Harry….so magical schools might have to be retired as a setting for a bit….

By: bruce

bruce — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:06:51 +0000

I’m just always curious when these kind of matters come up as to the matter of when people begin to define the difference between something progressive and something unoriginal.

By: Kian

Kian — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:46:10 +0000

Thinking about it I agree with you.

I’m just always curious when these kind of matters come up as to the matter of when people begin to define the difference between something progressive and something unoriginal. The line seems quite obvious when it comes to characters since there are names and back stories and its quite easy to lift, however take worlds for instance.
Would someone writing about a a world were magic exists unbeknownst to a modern day society be considered for lack of a better word “stolen”, what if it was set in a learning institute? Is the person who publishes first the person with priority or do you have to show proof of concept. The case of The Catcher in The Rye is that in which the tale is very much character driven and so I can see where the stance would lie upon this, however I can’t help but think that this may become a slippery slope and its that upon which I am wary of.

By: Jerome Stueart

Jerome Stueart — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:25:18 +0000

On the subject of recycled plots: well, progression of plot is a science and there are pretty standard ways to move a piece of fiction forward. While Fantasy authors everywhere are indebted to Tolkien, he is indebted to Myth, and so forth. Yes, creative works build on each other, but that’s not copyright infringement. Making Tolkien’s elves into the “standard” elves in other fantasy writer’s fiction is more about marketing and recognition–since readers expect intelligent, arrogant elves nowadays–and a bit of laziness–since no one wants to completely redefine and alienate a fan base–dumb, militaristic, 21st century elves might be too hard to design, let alone market–if they’re not the point of the book.

Star Wars might owe something to Dune, but it owes more to Joseph Campbell and myth…which is okay by me. All shirts are alike too–in their structure–but I like some better than others, and the art is still in what you make of the structure.

No one ever said Da Vinci was derivative because he did a portrait of a woman when portraits of women were commonplace.