Thursday, February 25, 2010

Plagiarism debate irks German authors

In literature, borrowing is nothing new. The debate on plagiarism in Germany - sparked by lifted passages in a teenager's new novel - has annoyed authors. One even pulled a public prank to reveal the absurdity of it all.
The ghost of plagiarism has come back to haunt the literary scene in Germany once again.

The young Berlin author Helene Hegemann, who turned 18 last weekend, recently admitted to lifting long passages by another author. But she wasn't the first. Last December, rumors circulated in the German press that Hamburg director Fatih Akin had copied sections of Alexander Wall's novel "Hotel Monopol" for his film "Soul Kitchen."
Then in January, writer Uwe Tellkamp was accused of borrowing from Jens Wonneberger for his bestseller "Der Turm" ("The Tower"). Britain's star author J.K. Rowling has also recently been taken to court for similarities between "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and a book by Adrian Jacobs.

Full report here Deutsche Welle

No comments:

Post a Comment