More Than a Million Little Pieces

Separation and individuation are not only stages of development, but also properties of matter--that matter. Remember the old saw about no two snowflakes being alike? How do CRISPER and before that cloning figure in? The expression sheep to slaughter is challenged by the fact you may create identical ones, to eat and clone. When you think about it, the question of duplication is biblical going back to the Adamic fall and later the Arc which might be looked at as proto-Planned Parenthood. How do plagiarism, appropriation and other forms of literary fraud figure in? Clifford Irving is sui generis since he practiced what, in other literary ages, might be termed meta fiction, particularly since he poached the autobiography of someone who himself might be considered fiction. Same with James Frey who wrote a meta-non-fictional tale about his “recovery.” The indignation over this last is a bit dubious since he was only doing what most alcoholics do in the O'Neill masterpiece, e.g. wait for the Iceman to come.