Just thinking over lunch about words that I learnt at university.
(As one does)
Think my favourite is: bricolage.
Definition from Dictionary.com: a construction made of whatever materials are at hand; something created from a variety of available things.
Which I think is a good definition for personality and life. One of the guys I work with this morning questioned whether I was unconsciously quoting when I said "We, who are about to die, thank you". I quickly answered "no" but then thought and replied "yes". That's a quote from Angels in America by Tony Kushner.
Is it plagarism to quote without thinking or realising during conversation? And could we ever police that sort of thing?
To continue the bricolage about bricolage:
Am reading the Rama cycle by Arthur C Clark (which I incorrectly attributed to Issac Asimov on the phone last week) and in it one of the characters (Richard Wakefield) "steals" an idea from a colleague. It's not a written down idea but a discussion idea. At what point during a discussion does someone take ownership of an idea? What if I successfully improve your idea and refine it to the point where it's no longer recognisible as your idea. Do I still credit the conversation or run the risk of appearing to pretend the idea leapt fully formed from my head?
Which, as is only right, brings me to Proust. He said "Don’t go too fast". Have just finished reading Proust and the Squid, which is all about how our brains work when we're reading and where, if at all, reading fits into evolutionary theory. One of the tasks in the book is to read a chunk of writing by Proust as quickly as you can. And it's hard work. Unfamiliar structuring, lyrical language, long flowing sentences- all served to slow my reading right down. It also made me want to go back and read more Proust but I'm not sure I want to be lugging volumes around in my bag or on the bus.
I'm fascinated by intellectual property rights, plagarism laws, confidentially agreements (saw an email recently that said "Please be advised as our email servers may not be in the UK". Does that mean that different laws apply depending on where the physical server is?) and the creative process. Culturally we've moved from the bricolage to the mashup. It's no longer sticking things together but more of a DNA blending type thing. (Descriptive, no? Larry Lessig is far better at explaining in his TED talk that I posted a few weeks back)
Back to Kushner, who'll I'll let have the final word for now on where my head is at on the issue at the moment. Prior Walter says "It's something you learn after your first theme party. It's all been done before". The world, he's/Kushner's saying, is finite, knowable.
I feel like there's something I've not said on the issue. Something I've not quite captured from my brain. I'll no doubt forget I've written this and find something else to distract myself with.
