Last month I discussed my views on derivation as a process of development. This month I have turned to my friend the poet Charlotte Hussey for her views.

Charlotte considers her views on the questions about being derivative as a tad conservative. She believes we modern folk are overly obsessed with "The New," the copyrighted, etc.  In traditional cultures the individualistic drive that propels much of Modernism and Post-Modernism is absent. For example, she said First Nations peoples value something which also has integrity; something larger than an individual signature or voice doing its "new" thing. 

Charlotte described a  Cult of the New that stems from a sort of memory crisis, begun in what critics have called the "long nineteenth century," when village life which had gone on in a similar vein for seemingly hundreds of years was disrupted by people flooding into the cities to work. She believes that industrialization has put great emphasis on progress, invention, the new , and the future to the detriment of our grasp of history, tradition and continuity. 

Charlotte employs an intricate poetic form known as a glosa. Here is what I have learned about the glosa: It is an early Renaissance form that was developed by poets of the Spanish court in the 14th and 15th centuries. In a glosa, tribute is paid to another poet. The opening quatrain is taken directly from the work of another poet, and each of the four lines is imbedded elsewhere in the glosa. The opening quatrain is followed by four stanzas, each of which is generally ten lines long, that elaborate or "glosses" on the chosen quatrain. Each ending line (10th line) of the four following stanzas is taken from the quatrain. The usual rhyme scheme of a glosa is final word rhyming of the 6th, 9th and the borrowed 10th lines.

As you can clearly see this is an elaborate and formal poetic structure derived from the work of another. The key factor for me is that the glosa was developed as a way to pay homage to another poet. Charlotte said that she takes great pleasure referring back to old myths and imagery in order to keep them alive and vibrant.

I am currently reading a series of Russian mysteries by Boris Akunin. They are set in the nineteenth century and written in the style of the time. It struck me that this is an example of derivative work. The stories are strengthened by the use of this writing style that is derived from the earlier period. Had Akunin chosen to write in a more contemporary style the stories would lack authenticity.

I am drawn to the idea of derivative work that pays homage to those who have gone before or the style of another time. It becomes a form of acknowledgement and recognition done with integrity. When considered in that light derivative work becomes both honourable and desirable.

© C O P Y R I G H T   2 0 1 0.  Mary Sullivan Holdgrafer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.