@article{42038,
      author = {Frosio, Giancarlo},
      url = {http://tind.wipo.int/record/42038},
      title = {Rediscovering Cumulative Creativity from the Oral  Formulaic Tradition to Digital Remix Can I Get a Witness?},
      abstract = {For most of human history, the essential nature of  creativity was understood to be cumulative and collective.  This notion has been largely forgotten by modern policies  that regulate creativity and speech. As hard as it may be  to believe, the most valuable components of our immortal  culture were created under a fully open regime with regard  to access to pre-existing expressions and reuse. From the  Platonic mimesis to Shakespeare’s “borrowed  feathers,” the largest part of our culture has been  produced under a paradigm in which imitation—even  plagiarism—and social authorship formed constitutive  elements of the creative moment. Pre-modern creativity  spread from a continuous line of re-use and juxtaposition  of pre-existing expressive content, transitioning from  orality to textuality and then melding the two traditions.  The cumulative and collaborative character of the oral  formulaic tradition dominated the development of epic  literature. The literary pillars of Western culture, the  Iliad and the Odyssey, were fully forged in the furnace of  that tradition. Later, under the aegis of Macrobius’ art  of rewriting and the Latin principles of imitatio, medieval  epics grew out of similar dynamics of sharing and  recombination of formulas and traditional patterns.  Continuations, free re-use, and the re-modeling of iconic  figures and characters, such as King Arthur and Roland,  made chansons de geste and romance literature powerful  vehicles in propelling cross-country circulation of  culture.},
      recid = {42038},
      pages = {55 pages},
}