Irony of Plagiarism
Plagiarism is often seen as a very negative thing in the world of art. However, Lethem ironically depicts plagiarism as being "the substance... of all human utterances."
An ironic question
Lethem shares that he ironically used to ask people if they knew who Shirley Jackson was. This is ironic because he would do this purposefully in order to catch people out if they didn't know who Shirley Jackson was.
Lethem's parlor trick
Ironically, Lethem's "parlor trick" might not work anymore, as people are much more aware of who Shirley Jackson is. He states that he originally used to ask people who the author was in order to gauge their literary tastes "ten and twenty years ago."
Irony of success
In his essays, Lethem often states that ironically the best writers have not earned "bestselling status," or any large amount of fame. For example, he praises writer Italo Calvino, who isn't a mainstream writer.
Plagiarism and Influence
In his essay "The Ecstasy of Influence," Lethem states how the separation between the ideas of plagiarism and influence are legally quite questionable. Ironically, some texts are reported as having plagiarized, while others are concluded to have merely been "influenced."
