By Sarah
So...the Associated Press, which is covering Kaavya Viswanathan's plagiarism scandal with more diligence than their reporting on Katrina and WMDs put together, says that Little Brown has cancelled its 2-book contract with Kaavya. Meanwhile, the Bergen Record in New Jesery, where Kaavya worked as an intern, is doing a complete review of the dozen or so articles she wrote for them while in high school. Sigh.
The latest news comes in light of allegations that Kaavya may have ripped off a makeover scene in Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries and - are you ready for this? - a Salman Rushdie novel. Though I don't think he had a makeover scene. (You know, that could be very funny!)
Am I the only one who feels the virulence of attacks on this 19 year old is over the top? It's a lot easier to beat on a kid, than well, you know...we won't go there for political reasons.
Sarah -
Over the top? Maybe. BUT She represented her work as original, signed contracts which I'm sure at some point said "this is original work". And I'm not sure that "19" is a kid anymore, Sarah. I do think that it's being overplayed, hell yeah - like every eentsy teeny mini-scandal is anymore because this crap is now considered "news". But after Jayson Blair, after seeing such notable "real" writers as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Ambrose getting questioned for original work, I guess I'm glad to see people at least reacting. Remember, when they did start checking on Blair, did they not find lots of stuff that he wrote that was not factual? And YES, it's not exactly the NY Times and yes she is young and it's her first book. I haven't read any of the recent stuff, so I don't know how virulent it is. It's overreacting yes, but that's what so-called news IS nowadays - months of daily reports about some stranger doing something that "righteous" folks either disapprove of or find exciting or scandalous whether isappearing on an island, "running away" and lying about it, lying about your experience and degress on your resume. I mean I just went to "CNN.com" and they have an actual "news report" about Paris *$%!#$"^&#^*"! Hilton.
And after all, it's HAHVAHD. I suspect lots of people love seeing someone at HAHVAHD taken down a peg. I suspect the glee would be slightly lessened if, say, the young woman were a Rutgers student, or someone at Ohio State.
Besides, i suspect many people find it far more interesting that dealing with immigration law, the price of gas, the war - you know real life.
Posted by: Andi | May 02, 2006 at 08:29 PM
Well, Sarah, I agree with you. There could be something racial involved, too. In this country, there always is.
Posted by: Josh | May 03, 2006 at 07:22 AM
This is getting a bit out of hand. I think it's good that they revealed the plagerism but this is starting to snowball. Now let's focus on how the industry can avoid scandals like this one. Ya know, be proactive for once rather than reactive.
Or maybe I'm asking for too much.
Posted by: Lisa A.K.A. Pop Tart | May 03, 2006 at 07:24 AM
I hate repeating myself, but what about this child's parents?! Although, for many purposes, a 19-year-old is an adult, there is no way all of this happened without the support of her parents. And I'll bet, age of consent or not, those agents and publishers were savvy enough to make sure her parents signed off on her contracts as well.
Like those idiots Frey, Blair, etc., the editors and publishers bear a piece of this blame.
Finally, the sickening reality is that veracity is not something that is valued in our current society. From Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles - and everywhere in between, (except on The Colbert Report, where truthiness is the stated goal) flat-out lies are becoming commonplace.
Posted by: Kathy Sweeney aka Smart Tart | May 03, 2006 at 09:17 AM
Oh, if I had a nickel for every time I accidentally cut & pasted from a great work of art and passed it off as my own . . .
But actually, Sarah, I'm with you. If this girl was an old white man, they'd give her a golden parachute and ask her to leave quietly.
Posted by: Harley | May 03, 2006 at 09:29 AM
Hmmm...I am also thinking about the racial and gender angle.
Would I white 17 year old boy from the suburbs be given a $500,000 book contract for his first two books?
Posted by: MnZ | May 03, 2006 at 10:37 AM
I don't know- let's ask Bret Easton Ellis
Posted by: sarah | May 03, 2006 at 10:43 AM
Just read this piece on AOL:
http://news.aol.com/entertainment/articles/_a/harvard-author-loses-her-book-deal/20060502175909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Seems she pinched from Sophie Kinsella, too. Has anyone seen any comment from her parents? As for Bret Easton Ellis...I remember reading LESS THAN ZERO while I worked in a bookstore part-time during college and thinking, "This is what NY wants?" Oy.
Posted by: Susan McB | May 03, 2006 at 01:52 PM
Yeah...the Sophie Kinsella thing didn't seem that clear cut. I wanna read the Salman Ruhdie one,though, that's gotta be a killer.
You know, it occurs to me that if she hadn't spent so much time reading all these guys and flipping back and forth, searching for the perfect passages and then writing them down, she might have saved herself a heck of a lot of time.
Do you suppose she wasn't sure what plagiarism was? Just change a few words and, heck, you're home clear?
I often don't read "my style" when I'm writing a book (when am I not writing a book?) and now I know why.
Posted by: sarah | May 03, 2006 at 02:05 PM
Ah, Bret Easton Ellis - remember how he wrote a horrid horrid horrid little book and his publisher refused it and folks started to cry "censorship"? Interesting use of the word, huh?
She definitely got slapped harder because of the other cases where things weren't done about the liars (the most recent "lied on his resume" coach around here STILL has a job - was not fired, but was given far too many chances to "fix the problem" which he blamed of course on other people, even though by the news report I read,several of the claims come from a form he himself filled out) and you wanna bet his salary far exceeds her advance? but heck, it's SPORTS which is far more important than some book, right?
Good point about her parents. Who knows if anyone was with her when she signed the contract. I wouldn't have (I would like to think I wouldn't - maybe at 19 I was naive enough to think "oh, I know what I'm doing") have signed a contract without a lawyer at least - probably one my mother would have steered me to.
If she's not clear on what plagiarism is, do we think we have a good idea for a NEW required class for all college, esp. Harvard freshmen?
Anyone read Doonesbury on Wednesday? (written weeks before this story broke but still)
Posted by: Andi | May 03, 2006 at 03:13 PM
I wrote my first adult-length novel when I was 19, between transferring colleges, shipped it off to editors and agents, and experienced what it meant to get my very first personal rejections. I also got a contract offer, from a small press that's now defunct, and I read it through, going point by point, using a book about literary contracts for reference. I didn't sign it, because it clearly sucked. Now, if it had been half a mil dangled at me, it might've been a different story. I can't imagine being bright enough to get into Harvard and not understanding what "plagiarism" meant. It's hard for me to digest the idea of copying another's work virtually verbatim (even in small snatches) without actually, um, copying. I do realize she was 17 when this all happened and doubtless got quickly swept up into the situation, surely thinking about the big picture more than individual words in her book, and probably expecting other, more experienced folks in the picture to take care of any details, particularly legalities. Seems to me there's plenty of fault to go around, but I'm sure there's a clause in the contract she signed that indicates her work was original. If anyone had any doubts--if she wasn't sure that the words were all hers, or at least the thoughts expressed in her original voice--why didn't it come up before she signed? Oy. Just a big ol' mess. I'll bet James Frey is breathing a big sigh that this young woman's mistake/misfortune has swung the spotlight away from him! Wonder who'll be next on the chopping block.
Posted by: Susan McB | May 03, 2006 at 03:51 PM
I think most of us write our own stuff, of course, even though plagiarism is rampant in fiction. I don't steal other writers' work and recently scrapped a scene in my own MS when I read a similar one in another book. (That was a bummer)
I don't go around stealing tips off tables, either.
My focus is on the over reaction. It smacks of the worst kind of jealousy and Schadenfreude that exists in this business, possibly because of the unfairness of 500,000 advances and 100,000 print runs for an untried author.
Posted by: sarah | May 03, 2006 at 04:10 PM
Well, she will get over it. Her parents, on the other hand, will have a much bigger problem. I saw "Bend it Like Beckham."
Posted by: Josh | May 03, 2006 at 04:13 PM
Sarah, for sure, the degree of backlash now is related to the insane level of advance hype for OPAL MEHTA. On both ends, it's way too much pressure for someone not even twenty, I agree.
Josh, Josh, Josh! ;-)
Posted by: Susan McB | May 03, 2006 at 04:47 PM
Sarah, I am not sure is Bret would know. I think already had a couple of well received novels to his name before he got his first big payday.
Posted by: MnZ | May 03, 2006 at 04:52 PM
Sarah, I am not sure if Bret would know. I think he already had a couple of well received novels to his name before he got his first big payday.
(Oops...I hit post instead of preview.)
Posted by: MnZ | May 03, 2006 at 04:54 PM
The last days of Caligula....
Posted by: sarah | May 03, 2006 at 05:59 PM
Worst movie ever made. I know, I saw it. Yuck.
Posted by: josh | May 03, 2006 at 06:47 PM
What about the role of Alloy Entertainment? David Mehegan in April 29 Boston Globe-"Alloy is the so-called book packager that helped the Harvard sophomore, now 19, develop the concept for her novel. Everyone involved insists she wrote every word, though Alloy president Leslie Morgenstein said in an e-mail that his firm "helped Kaavya conceptualize and plot the book." Whatever the extent of its role, Alloy claimed half the rights, which according to publishing experts means that both Alloy and Viswanathan would have signed the contract."
Posted by: BookBabe | May 03, 2006 at 09:44 PM
Good point, BookBabe!
I know - the Alloy thing is bizarre. It's like learning your favorite author is actually a corporate committee. Not that unusual in the commercial YA business.
To tell you the truth, it sounds like a very odd contract. And William Morris isn't there to back her up. William Morris and Alloy got out just fine...how fine, financially, is an interesting question.
Posted by: sarah S | May 03, 2006 at 10:09 PM
What does qualify as news these days? I open a news page online and get bombarded with images of Brittany or Anniston having babies, not having babies, getting married, separating. I DON'T CARE. Am I the only one?
Posted by: Pat Brown | May 12, 2006 at 09:02 AM