German author's "cut-and-paste" bestseller sparks debate (Feature)

By Christof Kerkmann Feb 18, 2010, 2:08 GMT

Hamburg - A teenage author who used other people's words for her best-selling debut novel has triggered a debate in Germany about where to draw the line between creativity and plagiarism.

Entire passages from the blog of another writer appear in Axolotl Roadkill, Helene Hegemann's novel about a girl who prefers the drugs and sexual kicks of Berlin's club scene to going to school.

Hegemann, who turns 18 on Friday, has defended her style of mixing her own words with those of others, something which is becoming more common among an internet generation with literary pretensions.

Copying from other people's work is in the blood of these budding writers, who form texts, images and videos on their computers into something new - a remix.

It's nothing new for artists to draw on the creativity of others for their own inspiration - even Beethoven and Goethe were not averse to lifting ideas for their musical and literary compositions.

'Copying is an established cultural trait' that has been refined to an art form of its own by artists who specialise in making collages of the work of others, says Volker Grassmuck, a sociologist whose speciality is the media.

Adapting and copying other works has never been easier, thanks to the internet, which has turned into 'a global library, a vast multimedia world,' adds Grassmuck.

Remixing began in studios and discos but has long since moved into other art forms, including literature.

'The new generation of internet users take it for granted they can jumble together content and reconfigure it,' according to Urs Gasser, head of the Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Many of are not aware of copyright or intellectual property rights, he says, but there is an understanding for fairness or justice.

'A majority believe it is okay to use content and change it. But it is considered fair to name the source,' says Gassner, co-author of the book Generation Internet.

Hegemann's approach fits into this category of cut-and-paste artistry.

She has defended her right 'to copy and transform,' although she did apologize for being 'so thoughtless and egoistic,' for not naming the sources for her material.

Soon after her novel's publication in January, it was noticed that chunks of it were virtually identical to a lesser-known work by a Berlin blogger who writes under the name Airen.

Airen himself is not too put out at having his work plagiarised. 'The book corresponds to the way I feel about literature and deserves to be a success,' he told the magazine Stern.

But Airen said he'll make sure that he'll get what's due to him under copyright rules.

The case shows how the economy of attention functions in the age of blogging, Facebook and Twitter.

Once the plaigirism row became public Airen's book Strobo was sold out in next to no time. The blogger then became a much sought-after interview partner.

Both sides profited from the scandal - the original and the remix.

Hegemann's book shot to number two in best-seller lists and she was short-listed as a favourite for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for fiction.