Many NLT readers are no doubt following the sad and discouraging story of Ben Domenichs fall over plagiarism. Turns out Joseph Epstein meditated on this subject in this Weekly Standard column earlier this month.
Money graph:
Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies. The reason writers are such slow readers is that we are ceaselessly searching for things we can steal and then pass off as our own: a natty bit of syntax, a seamless transition, a metaphor that jumps to its target like an arrow shot from an aluminum crossbow.
I guess Im not enough of a writer for the quoted paragraph to resonate with me. With all due respect, it called to my mind, rather, an old Three Stooges exchange.
Larry: "Trapped like rats!"
Moe: "Speak for yourself, rodent."