Discussion Questions

Please read the attached file in order to answer the questions below. Please type 150 words for each question. 

Question 1:  What harm is there, according to Porter, in imagining writing "as individual, as isolated, as heroic" (para. 397)? What problems does it cause?

Question 2: If Porter is right about intertextuality and its effects on originality, then his article must not be "original," and he must not be writing as an "autonomous individual." How does his own work reflect-or fail to reflect-the principles he's writing about?

Question 3:  Many of us have been taught to imagine "writers" as people who work more or less alone to get their ideas down in print. Has Porter's study changed the way you imagine writers and writing? Would adopting his notion of writers and writing change the way you write?