On: Two Starkly Similar Novels and the Puzzle of Plagi...

[whack]

Here's the whole essay where he made the "lesser author" comment:

https://medium.com/@Powells/how-i-wrote-life-of-pi-6ffe1c017...

He made that comment as a hypothetical in the context of a really bad book review. He even said in the very next sentence that the book may possibly have been very well written. I don't think he's trying to make any personal attack.

My personal opinion on plagiarism is that everything is fair game as long as it's clearly acknowledged upfront.

[zaksoup → whack]

Isn't that called quoting people?

[whack → zaksoup]

In the most extreme form, yes. And no one should be shamed for quoting someone with attribution.