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Ned chimed:
"And what a word--I want to know the etymology of it. "
interpret
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French interpreter, from Latin interpretari, from interpret-, interpres agent, negotiator, interpreter
transitive verb
================
Ned, I think you think too much. I went to your website (that is yours isn't it?) to see what I can "interpret." "Services" seems a little blank, but your "documentation project methodology" might be worthy of "interpretation." ;-)
I think that if a piece of work is derived from another piece of work and the derived work so closely resembles the original work that we can recognize the original work within the derivation, then credit should be given to the original writer or risk being a plagiarization, unless the original author is clearly recognized in the derived work. For example, Bach's "Minuet in G Major" is frequently used in other works, but he rarely if ever receives credit when the melody is borrowed and there is no need to give him credit because most people can recognize the melody as Bach's. "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys used the melody and that song is not refered to as "A Lover's Concerto based on Bach's Minuet in G Major" but we know that the melody is not original. Additionally, eventhough the melody is cited as Bach's, it is the work of Christian Petzold and this brings a new dynamic to the paradigm of giving credit where credit is due. Would anyone even know of the work if Christian Petzold was given full credit? I don't think so. So in this case, the work outlived the composer because it was essentially stolen by a well-known composer.
You said "When Miles Davis recorded Cyndi Lauper's pop hit Time After Time." You didn't say that it was Miles Davis's hit. Does Frazier's essay closely resemble an essay from a specific previous author that should receive credit? Is it a rehashing of other works in the public domain from multiple authors so that it is not a direct derivation? Or is his essay removed from the original work of another author enough that it is only an inspired piece rather than a nearly plagiarized piece? I am not familiar with the original work or with Frazier. I also don't know if Frazier's "interpretation" is helping the piece achieve recognition or hurting the original author.
Why am I so philosophical today? Now I'm thinking too much. Is this like a yawn? One person yawns and everyone in the room starts yawning? One person thinks about the boundaries of interpretation and other people start thinking about the same thing? I'll bet there are people yawning now. Or thinking. Or thinking about yawning.
Lauren
________________________________
From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com on behalf of Ned Bedinger
Sent: Fri 1/19/2007 11:08 AM
To: Susan Hogarth
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: FYA
Susan Hogarth wrote:
> On 1/18/07, Tariel, Lauren R <lt34 -at- saclink -dot- csus -dot- edu> wrote:
>> "Make a frappe from a couple of published sources and pour it out,
>> for sale, to another market."
>>
>> Got It! Thanks. That's my new business model.
>
> heh.
>
> But seriously, isn't that what writers *do*? Incorporate other works
> into new and original works? reusign a chord progression doesn'tmake a
> blues song 'unoriginal'.
>
OMG, you've taken me to the bridge, and what you say is true. When
Miles Davis recorded Cyndi Lauper's pop hit Time After Time, it was a
revelation to jazz listeners. Sheesh, that's what artists and
performers do, they interpret. What a concept! And what a word--I
want to know the etymology of it. I see a good old Latin affix 'inter-'
(from Greek enteron, intestine) followed by the readily-understood
'pret' (let's just say it is as in 'pret a manger', ready to eat; also
sometimes used as shorthand for present tense). Please, pardon my
French, but an interpreter performs something already in the intestine?
I can see how that might be--they digest it for the audience. Now I'm
like, "Wow, how many times have I said that good technical writing
requires first fully digesting a complex system before deciding how to
structure and write the documentation!"
So yes, I think that this must be the bridge to Ian Frazier's piece that
I wasn't seeing. Absolutely, in some sense he's like Chaucer or
Shakespeare borrowing from traditional tales like Troilus and Cressida
while creating their own unique masterpieces. Another possibility I
hadn't thought of is that the Frazier essay is an homage to the original
work that recognized shower curtains as an intriguing subject with lots
of 'splaining to do. Still, I'm uneasy. I still feel that Frazier's
essay evokes and accepts credit for the original work of others, a sign
of author envy. Frazier is Salieri to David Schmidt's Mozart.
Finally, I ought to do a little 'splaining myself. I'm not trying to be
right about anything here--this is just my own reaction to the essay. I
accept the fact that I could be quite wrong about Frazier's inspiration
and intentions in writing it, and New Yorker's in publishing it. As if
to underscore that likelihood, when I googled Mozart and Salieri I found
the one-act opera by Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto is taken nearly
verbatim from a work of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. Feh, this
whole issue is going to give me indigestion. But thanks for the
interpretation as vernacular, Susan, that really is able to account for
this.
Have fun,
Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com
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