> Is Pierre Menard's Quixote a repetition of Cervantes' or is it a completely different work that just happens to contain the same words?
I think that that is not the right question. It is a repetition of Cervantes's work by design, at least if one takes, as I do, 'repetition' to mean saying or writing the same words in the same order. I think the question is whether it is therefore the same work, or a different work that contains the same words.
I think that that is not the right question. It is a repetition of Cervantes's work by design, at least if one takes, as I do, 'repetition' to mean saying or writing the same words in the same order. I think the question is whether it is therefore the same work, or a different work that contains the same words.