早期现代英国的札记式写作

Commonplacing in Early Modern England

本文对比了两个剽窃的例子:一个是真实的(威廉·奥迪斯沃斯),一个看上去是但实际上却不是的(约翰.邓顿),说明札记式写作是早期现代英国作家的一个基本的写作方法。我们必须区分盗窃与合法的借用。早期现代作家通过聪明地借用札记材料的权威来发明自己的作者权。当我们考虑札记式写作这一因素时,早期现代的剽窃就比看上去要复杂得多,《现代语言协会手册》里黑白分明的定义也许涵括不了它。本文的讨论将增进我们对剽窃的认识和对早期现代英文写作方式的理解。

By examining two contrasting cases of plagiarism — a real one(William Oldisworth)and a seeming one(John Dunton)— this paper studies commonplacing as a method of composition in early modern writers(including,among others,Robert Burton and Owen Felltham).We must distinguish between stealing and legitimate borrowing.By borrowing the commonplace authority wisely,the early modern writer invents his/her own authorship.When we take into account the factor of commonplacing,the early modern plagiarism presents a more complicated picture than what meets the eye or can be contained in the hard-and-fast MLA definition.Hopefully,the discussions in this paper will add to our understanding of the nature of plagiarism and of the manner of early modern writing.