Literary plagiarism and its debates: : an argentinean case, a german case

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of the novels Bolivia Construcciones (2006) by Bruno Morales, pseudonym of the Argentine Sergio Di Nucci, and Axolotl Roadkill (2010) by the German Helene Hegemann. These are two novels that coincide in initiating the authors in their literary careers as recognized writers, which were also positively read initially, recognizing their literary value, which also proved innovation within their national literary fields for the issues they addressed through fiction, although shortly after, they were devalued by accusations of plagiarism. Here, plagiarism as a concept of evaluation imposes itself as a variable for literary reading that diverges from the (especially current) modes of literary writing.  Through the textual analysis in relation to the accusations of plagiarism that they faced and the consideration of the literary polemics around them from the perspective of literary sociology, we explore the implications of the debate, the legitimacy of the category of plagiarism as a value-defining factor and the potential of reading notions closer to the modes of ultra-contemporary writing, such as Goldsmith's uncreative writing.