An Ethics of Imitation

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Notes

notes

1. This sentence was mangled by the editors to make it say the opposite of what I meant. I wrote: “The Romantics, with their emphasis on the unique originality of the work of art, thought otherwise, and their aesthetic is now deeply embedded in our culture and in those areas of law that govern literary property. But with that important exception, it has always been accepted that literature develops by way of the imitation and transformation of previous texts.” The italicised clauses were omitted from the published version.

2. A similar, and similarly misdirected, controversy erupted in 2001 over accusations that Ian McEwan's Atonement had improperly drawn on Lucilla Andrews’ memoir No Time for Romance (see Roberts). In this case McEwan had been punctilious in acknowledging his use of Andrews’ text.

3. The text has been modified to conform to what I originally wrote, although in this case the editing did not substantially affect the intended meaning.

4. A regime of value consists in large part of unwritten rules that govern expectations about aesthetic and ethical norms in the field of aesthetic production. The concept designates “those normative organisations of the proper which specify what counts as a good object of desire or pleasure; a good relation to or use of it; a proper mode of access or entry to it; and an appropriate range of valuations” (Bennet, Frow and Emmison 258). See also Frow, Cultural Studies 144–54 and Bennet, Frow and Emmison 103–04, 258–64.