Literary pollination

“Of course I steal. I steal like a raven” was the title of an essay by author Stig Sæterbakken in Bokvennen 3, 2011. For his part, Georg Johannesen is said to have despised his readers because they did not understand that almost everything he wrote consisted of quotes from others.

Authors and journalists are accused of plagiarism from time to time. But where does the dividing line actually run between literary inspiration and larceny? What is common intellectual and literary property, and when does inspiration tip over into plagiarism?

Since her literary debut in the early 1980s, Vigdis Hjorth has been one of Norway’s most productive and acclaimed authors – producing a number of literary works as well as essay collections. Erlend O Nødtvedt made his debut in 2011 and has published three poetry collections and two novels. Literary scholar, author and translator Margunn Vikingstad serves as moderator when Hjorth and Nødtvedt discuss the limits of what is permissible in the interaction with texts written by others.

The conversation will be in Norwegian.