Stolen Words

"The definitive book on the subject" of plagiarism (The New York Times) is updated with a new afterword about the Internet.

What is plagiarism, and why is it such a big deal? Since when is originality considered an indispensable attribute of authorship? Stolen Words is a deft and well-informed history of the sin every writer fears from every angle. Award-winning author Thomas Mallon begins in the seventeenth century and pushes forward toward scandals in publishing, academia, and Hollywood, exploring the motivations, consequences, and emotional reverberations of an intriguing and distressingly widespread practice. In this now-classic study, Mallon proves himself to be one of our most versatile, original, and delightful writers.

Novelist and non-fiction writer Mallon focuses on plagiarism's psychology and its haphazard exposure and punishment, hoping that some of its essential features and ironies emerge. To the new edition he adds an 11-page afterword that, among other things considers the impact of the Internet on plagiarism. The first edition was published by Ticknow and Fields. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Publishers Weekly

Mallon discusses texts that are suspiciously similar, cites specific cases of plagiarism and concludes that literary predators are recidivistic, while society is reluctant to punish them. ``Although ably researched and enthusiastic and clever in tone, the book has an uneasy mix of topics that may preclude its finding an audience,'' suggested PW. (Feb.)

Thomas Mallon is the author of five novels and five works of nonfiction. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and GQ. He received the National Book Critics Circle award for reviewing in 1998. The recipient of a 2000 Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives in Westport, Connecticut.