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All Good Editors Are Pirates: In Memory of Lewis H. Lapham laphamsquarterly.org

svara16 hours ago

Someone here recommended Lapham's podcast, The World in Time, the last time he came up.

It's amazing! Truly someone out of a different age.

https://pca.st/podcast/daa59d90-feeb-0134-ec79-4114446340cb

PostOnce12 hours ago

This is a total tangent, but I am amazed by the image at the top of the article. I did not know until today that theatrical sets were ever first designed as models or dioramas, and that one is especially beautiful. I have now embarked on a set design model box research expedition.

tclancy11 hours ago

Step softly so you don’t break any little people.

ggm4 hours ago

Robertson Davies, and E. Anne Proulx used this as a vignette in writing about small town newspaper editors.

Aachen15 hours ago

The title is explained way down:

> Lewis was fond of saying that “all good editors are pirates”—they steal from everyone

yeahwhatever1013 hours ago

A contradictory quote for publishers and editors in the AI era.

ysofunny10 hours ago

culture has always been all about imitating and copying each other unapologetically

the whole "marketplace of ideas" which has led us into "let us charge money for ideas" is as dumb as bricks

CamperBob213 hours ago

And it doesn't even make sense, as it's the artist or the author, not the editor, who is supposed to "Steal from the best, forget the rest."

devrandoom8 hours ago

The line between an inspiration and plagiarism is perhaps sometimes blurry but there's definitely a line.

But you have to steal something, themes at least if you want to create a piece in a style.

Trying composing a blues song without any "stealing".

pryelluw8 hours ago

I like Jerry Seinfeld’s take on plagiarism in comedy. His point is that whoever writes the funniest joke about a given premise gets the credit. This applies forward as well. As you may come up with a new angle and punchline for a well established premise.

I wrote a fun (to me) take on the good ‘ole horse walks into a bar joke. Here it goes:

Horse walks into a bar.

Bartender says: “Why the long face?”

Horse replies: “I can’t find a stable job.”

chrisweekly8 hours ago

I like this model for giving credit. Sadly, no attribution avlbl for this one:

a thesaurus walks into a bar. a thesaurus strolls into a bar. a thesaurus saunters into a bar...

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