Resemblance not necessarily plagiarism

Often times, a work of art stirs in one’s imagination memories of another. This is largely due to the striking resemblance between the two. This is the idea of inter-textuality. One text evokes the memories of another to enable the reader broaden their thinking and possibilities present.

This can also be seen as an aspect of dialogism. A text brings to the fore contexts from other texts or situations. Without due regard to these notions, many a writer has been found guilty on trumped up charges of plagiarism.

The writer’s deliberate intention to include an episode which evokes a scene present in another text has earned them dire criticism. This appears to be what informed the citation of Ngugi’s A Grain of Wheat and Achebe’s No Longer at Ease by Peter Ndiwa where scenes are ‘similar’.

Ndiwa felt that to some extent, one copied from the other.  Given that the books were published almost at the same time, he leaves it to the readers to judge who the copy cat is.

This is however not saying with finality that one author borrowed from the other but to explore possibilities that do not amount to plagiarism. It is in this regard that Ndiwa’s “The Thin Line between Creativity and Plagiarism” fails to mine the tidbits of what plagiarism is and exposing it in its stark nudity. Just because Obi’s action in No Longer at Ease and the driver of ‘Diligent Child’ in A Grain of Wheat are similar, this does not in anyway presuppose one author copying from the other.

Given that both texts are set in post-independent African counties, they are wont to address similar issues. Corruption is one of the major problems faced by African countries. As such, writers are bound to write almost similar instances of how it is experienced.

In the study of oral literature, cultural evolutionists argue that certain psychic universals exist among societies which make it possible for similar tales to exist.

It is argued that at some point in the evolutionary path, given similar situations and responses, societies evolve tales which are quite similar.

Diffusionists however believe that a tale exists in one society first before it exists in another. Tales, they hold, move from one place to another.

The movement of tales is accompanied by adaptations to suit those who borrow the tales. This is illustrated by the similarities between the legend of Lwanda Magere and the biblical story of Samson.

Therefore it is possible to have texts having similar instances without writers copying others. Similarities in texts can also be as a result of writers borrowing from other texts.

Given that all stories have been told, it is for writers now to tell them differently. This is bound to create a lot of similarities. The question then is; what is plagiarism? Is it resemblance?