The Education of a Plagiarist in Tobias Wolff’s Old School
Is plagiarism really a crime? A moral failure? Forrest Anderson wonders if it might be a necessary step in learning how to write–in uncovering the authentic self.
Is plagiarism really a crime? A moral failure? Forrest Anderson wonders if it might be a necessary step in learning how to write–in uncovering the authentic self.
Summers, my dad took his two weeks’ vacation from the bank and drove our family southeast through corn and tobacco fields to Emerald Isle, North Carolina. We stayed on the sound-side of the island, in a small cottage on stilts, and each morning we hauled our chairs, coolers, and my mom’s heavy beach bag through a vacant lot, spiked with sandspurs, to the ocean. While dad unfolded our chairs and cracked open his day’s first beer, mom rummaged through her bag and passed out library books she’d picked for the family. I remember entire vacations spent reading, moving only with […]