Tuscaloosa Nights

I wasn't sure what to expect when I was told that this piece had been plagiarized, but I felt underwhelmed by the supposed plagiarization. While one small account in Carmer's piece somewhat resembles the entire story on which Vice's "Tuscaloosa Knights" is based, I didn't feel like I was reading a piece that was even remotely the same. While Vice's piece dealt with one particular fish-out-of-water incidence of a woman viewing human "evil" and then falling victim to her own inner desire, Carmer's piece read much more like a memoir or perhaps a cover story for a magazine; there wasn't any one "story" so much as there were accounts of the narrator's experiences while living and teaching in Tuscaloosa for six or so years.

I feel like the concept of Vice's piece being plagiarized is a contradiction to what I've been taught. All of my writing teachers have said, "If you like something, take it and run with it." I feel like that's exactly what Vice did. He found one small aspect of Carmer's book and said, "Hmm, what if I took this tiny instance and ran with it, really worked it out and turned it into something. What if it was a woman, and it was set now?" Granted, he should have been more up front in regards to Carmer's work as inspiration, but still, to refer to it as plagiarism feels like a stretch.

Focusing just on the Carmer excerpt, I enjoyed it. While it was set in Tuscaloosa, until the final chapter I felt, because of the difference in time periods, like I was a purerly fictitious "Anytown, USA" set in the early part of the century. I'm sure if I poured through the piece and picked out certain details I could more directly place certain events, but on first read it felt like it could have taken anywhere in the South or Midwest during that time period in America.

I enjoyed the blend of memoir and narrative. At times it felt more like I was reading the narrator's journal than "listening" to him tell a story. It broke the piece up very well and gave it an almost journalistic quality.

I enjoyed this piece more than Vice's. I think this is because it covers a greater subject matter of old-school Tuscaloosa, distancing me from it despite the fact that I'm a current resident and simultaneously not forcing me to associate myself with the vivid, borderline-despicable deeds of Vice's story.