Florilegium
In the Middle Ages, beautifully illustrated anthologies of writing were produced called florilegia. The name means "gathered flowers", and these "flowers" were wise written snippets taken from sages past and present, smooshed together and bound. These were the original medieval mixtapes, an aggregation of insight, creativity, and knowledge. The creators of these books understood that all ideas are remixes -- and that genius is relational.
Every writer is therefore a thief. But what we are guilty of is not a crime, but creativity. Ideas are additive. Einstein discovered relativity by riffing off and refuting existing scientific ideas, not by plucking an entirely new one from the ether. Hercule Poirot had a trusty sidekick because Agatha Christie was dazzled by Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. She was inspired, then created something astonishingly original.
~ Brian Klaas | Source
Related