Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the creative force of originality. How far is it to do with origins, how far with the combination of the discoveries of others, which were themselves based on the thoughts of others, into an ever-receding and replicating past? Is invention original? Is original important? Is tradition more interesting and the reworking of what is traditional of greater value than the search for idiosyncrasy? And did our notion of the original genius come as much out of a commercial imperative for individual copyright in the eighteenth century, as a romantic view of human nature which came in, perhaps not co-incidentally, at the same time? In 1800, in his preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wrote "Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished". But did the notion of originality begin with the Romantics in the 18th century, or has society always valued originality? Should we consider Shakespeare an innovator or a plagiarist?To what extent is originality about perception rather than conception and is originality a concept without meaning today?With John Deathridge, King Edward Professor of Music at King’s College London; Jonathan Rée, philosopher and author of Philosophical Tales; Professor Catherine Belsey, Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our |
| 0:04.3 | terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:12.0 | Hello. Wordsworth wrote in 1800 in his Preface to the Literal Ballads. |
| 0:15.9 | Every great and original writer, in proportion to his great and original, must himself create |
| 0:20.9 | the taste by which he used to be relished. But did the notion of originality begin with the |
| 0:25.9 | romantics in the 18th century? Society has not always valued originality. Should we consider |
| 0:31.8 | even Shakespeare as an original or a plagiarist? To what extent is originality about perception rather |
| 0:37.2 | than conception? And is originality a concept without meaning today? With me to discuss this, |
| 0:42.6 | is Professor Catherine Balsy, Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff |
| 0:47.0 | University, Jonathan Ray, Philosopher and author, and John Deathridge, Professor of Music at |
| 0:52.5 | King's College, London? John Deathridge, what exactly do you mean by originality? |
| 0:57.0 | Well, I think today people think of originality in two ways, positive and negative. I think |
| 1:02.4 | people like the idea of newness, people being original. On the other hand, there are the suspicious |
| 1:07.6 | of irrational newness. And I think people prefer the idea of originality something new or someone |
| 1:17.6 | who's producing something new inside a tradition without realizing that those two things are |
| 1:22.2 | rather contradictory, because you can't have a tradition without people stealing from everybody else |
| 1:26.8 | and sharing a language. Which is why I think this rather clever definition by Voltaire is quite |
| 1:35.3 | good, which is that originality is nothing but judicial plagiarism. I think that sums it up. |
| 1:42.1 | Was the notion not necessarily the word, but was a notion of originality one that would have |
| 1:47.4 | meant something to the Greeks. We so often go back to the Greeks, I don't see why we should |
| 1:51.2 | break after a different this morning. Would it have meant anything to Plato? |
| 1:56.5 | It wouldn't have meant the same thing it means to us obviously, but I can't imagine that |
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