Word to the Wise: Epigone

An "epigone" (EP-uh-gohn) – from the Greek for "to be born after" – is an inferior imitator, especially of a distinguished writer, artist, musician, or philosopher.

Example (as used by Milan Kundera in Immortality): "No novelist is dearer to me than Robert Musil. He died one morning while lifting weights. When I lift them myself, I keep anxiously checking my pulse, and I am afraid of dropping dead, for to die with a weight in my hand like my revered author would make me an epigone so unbelievable, frenetic, and fanatical as immediately to assure me of ridiculous immortality."

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