When does parody writing become plagiarism?

I just read “The Sorrows of Young Mike”, which is a parody of “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe. I loved the aspects that were touched on in the somewhat updated version and it is clearly its own work, but at what point is it not an original idea? John Zelazny, the writer of the parody, is in no way hiding from the original and in many ways makes what he is doing very clear. I am curious if people have read any other parodies like “The Sorrows of Young Mike” and what they think of the replication. Also, what do these parodies mean to the future of writing when cutting and pasting is commonplace?

I read Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey without having read Mrs Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho which in part parodies. Likewise I read and love Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock without knowing his translation of the Iliad or C18 pastoral poetry generally. I think it is possible to imagine what the original is like in the case of a good parody.

By definition, a parody isn't plagiarism.

Strictly speaking, a parody is imitation of the form of the work, not the entire work itself. The original is serious whereas the parody is usually a humorous take on the original author's style and/or excesses. Some good examples are "Requiem for a Noun, or Intruder in the Dusk," by Peter DeVries which spoofs Faulkner's writing and S.J. Perelman's "Farewell, My Lovely Appetizer," which parodies the hard-boiled patter of Raymond Chandler and by by extension Dashiell Hammett. (By the bye, I always confuse those two mystery writers, don't you?) Dwight Macdonald wrote a brilliant imitation of Hemingway's style in his essay on the same author in the volume called Against the American Grain (republished 2011.)

Plagiarism is not acknowledged copying. Parody is a fun game with style. Some parody is for mockery but some is a worshipful nod towards an admired artist. Some styles are easy to mock. Hemingway pared himself down so far that any tone of cold despair hung on coordinating conjunction must echo him a little. Does anyone here remember a skit called "Rinse the Blood From my Toga" (or something similar). It was a parody of the hard-boiled noir school used to retell "Julius Caesar". It was funny.

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Originally Posted by Eiseabhal

Does anyone here remember a skit called "Rinse the Blood From my Toga" (or something similar). It was a parody of the hard-boiled noir school used to retell "Julius Caesar". It was funny.

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No, but from my long-ago youth I remember the Canadian comedy team of Wayne & Schuster who frequently appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," a Sunday night American television institution. Wayne and Schuster did a brilliant parody of a Shakespearean play with a baseball team. (I think you might be able to find it on YouTube.)*


And here it is! "A hit! A hit! My Kingdom for a hit!"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhQ9aeCE8Oo