Lethem's Article Response

I believe there is a fine line between plagiarism and influence. Lethem knows that intertextuality exists in literature, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Plagiarism is taking some one's work and claiming it as your own, which is unacceptable. Influencing or inspiring is much different. Artists and writers will always be influencing each other to create even better pieces of work. When books are made into movies, the movie producer isn't stealing the author's work. Instead, the author inspired the movie producer to create a visual presentation of the book. Society has always progressed by taking past ideas and creations and improving on them. With literature, author's will always be influenced by past authors and their works.