I’m really disturbed by the scandal surrounding Kaavya Viswanathan, the Harvard novelist whose debut novel with passages plagiarized from Megan McCafferty’s two novels.
First of all, I’m disturbed that she has consistently explained the plagiarism – which, exampled here, are extensive – as “unintentional”, and a result of her “photographic memory” and the profound impact that McCafferty’s novels had on her. Even Katie Couric, the queen of (at least well-played, if insincere) Nice, couldn’t help taking a dig at that last week, by asking if she really expected anyone to believe the “unintentional” excuse. I certainly don’t. I see that explanation as a “that’s my story and I’m sticking to it” response. When I was little, I used to lie under duress about something, like a broken toy or a forgotten homework assignment by bending my own role in the situation. No, I didn’t ignore my homework! I forgot it! That toy fell off the shelf, I didn’t drop it!
It was an instinctively protective reaction and I’ve seen tons of children do it – give a little truth (the toy did break under my supervision, I knew I had homework) and bend it to make the outcome more favorable (it wasn’t my fault, I just forgot). It’s a compromise-lie.
And that’s what I suspect Ms. Viswanathan of doing. She compromise-lied. It fit with her original reaction to The Crimson, which was “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. It has nice words and explanations, like “internalizing” and “profound effect”. I just don’t think it’s true. It probably doesn’t matter, since her publishers have pulled the book from the shelves, ostensibly for the offending passages to be rewritten but I suspect LB would like nothing more than to forget the book completely. But it matters to me, because I can’t get this compromise-lie out from under my irritated skin.
Admit it, I want to say. Admit that you remembered the successful use of those passages, characters, plot concepts from McCafferty’s book and under the pressure of being 17 years old with a book-packaging company and an agent, you took them because you panicked. Because this is what bothers me the most about this story – how it happened.
Ms. Viswanathan was pushing to get into Harvard, and her family hired a consultant at IvyWise to help achieve that. The consultant saw her writing and put her in touch with an agent. The agent saw her writing and dropped her off with Alloy Entertainment, a book-packaging company that helped “shape” her “novel”. And then, instead of the darker, more complex book she’d originally imagined, she created a somewhat fluffy-but-relevant coming-of-age book about – you guessed it – an overachieving Indian-American girl trying to get into Harvard. And then, surprise, Little, Brown bought it.
And we’re surprised that she lifted from another novel? We’re surprised that the pressure and convenience of all aspects of Ms. Viswanathan’s chosen path led her to accomplish her goal at whatever cost?
This is what bothers me the most – well, almost as much as her compromise-lie. She was given an enormous amount of pressure and responsibility with very little of the attendant maturity and experience, so she did something profoundly stupid. She’s to blame – but who else is?
What about her editors, the team of whom admitted to a great role in “shaping” the novel? What about the agent who saw the potential in a very young client, and sent her to a book-packaging company instead of spending the time and effort to cultivate her as a client for two or even five years, to see what else she created? What about Little, Brown, who may have been extra-super interested in the debut novel from an intelligent minority? What about her parents?
Ultimately, it’s her fault. She put her fingers to those keys and typed out those words and whether she had McCafferty’s books physically in front of her keyboard or not, there’s no way she didn’t know exactly what she was lifting. And she should and will feel the consequences. But aren’t other people responsible, too? Normally, I hate playing the blame-distribution game, but I feel like it’s merited here. Even now, who is advising Ms. Viswanathan to continue the ridiculous “unintentional” explanation? This seems to me an even sadder and more complicated tale that simply an author abusing the ethical code of originality. Ms. Viswanathan’s failings are hers, but are they really hers alone?
it takes a village
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Before anyone comments, I’d like you to read this:
I have a lot of friends, including all of you, with a lot of strong and delightful opinions. Please keep in mind that everything I’ve said about Ms. Viswanathan and the controversy surrounding her book is speculative and of a questioning nature.
I also have a lot of friends in publishing who might react strongly to my inquiring whether the people around Ms. Viswanathan deserve any blame. I’m looking forward to hearing your opinions but if you take what I’ve said and posited in any sense as an ad hominem attack, you have misread me.
Thanks, guys. Let’s play nice?
I actually feel sorry for her, given her age. It must have been an internal nightmare as the novel crept toward publication, and all the while she knew there was a ticking timebomb embedded in it. The pressures that kept her from stopping it must have been enormous.
That being said, she is culpable. But so are the parents, the consultant — honest to God, a consultant to get you into a school, what are people thinking? That if she had attended, say, another school her income/self-esteem/chances of success would have been appreciably less? That’s insane! — and yeah, Harvard, I think we’re all looking at you. Carolyn Heilbrun took Harvard’s English department apart in one of the Kate Fansler novels, and I’ve never been able to look at the place the same way since.
I was thinking about this situation earlier today, but I came to the opposite conclusion that you did. Yes, there may have been pressure on this young lady, but I don’t think anyone can emphasize enough the intentional and deliberate nature of plagiarism. I don’t think there’s any question about whether she did it (based on the passages, anyway), and I think she just thought she wouldn’t get caught.
But the thing of it is, McCaffrey’s writing style is too distinct not to be noticed — and that’s probably why she lifted the passages in the first place.
I think this speaks to a more pervasive problem in society where people just assume they can get away with it. If there’s anyone else to “blame,” here I would probably start with the media and those who show Paris Hilton being rude and classless without consequence. I think that stuff has untold consequences for today’s youth because it blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
It’s funny that you posted about this. My co-clerks and I were recently discussing the effect of those “Sweet Sixteen” shows on MTV and this instance of plagiarism came up during the discussion. It sort of makes me glad I don’t have a TV.
In one of my creative writing classes in college, there was this one kid who never said anything intelligent in class and didn’t seem to even get why we were there. And then when it was his turn to present a story for review, he turned out this AMAZING piece of work. I was an instant fan. Later in the semester he turned in another piece and, hmm, this seems familiar…oh yes, it is a story by T.C. Boyle that this kid copied verbatim and handed in as his own. Unbelievable. When people cheat, it always baffles me that they steal from well-known sources. If you’re gonna play dirty, at least be smart about it!
You know what? This may come as little surprise, but I think I believe her. The nature of the plagiarized passages are so specific that I can’t even imagine it would be easier to leave them in and just hope nobody catches them than it would be to rewrite the lines involved. Unless, of course, you’re writing this stuff and you don’t even realize you’re lifting material.
Besides, I’ve done the same thing when I write sometimes — I’ll find some Douglas Adams turn of phrase in a story that I didn’t even realize was Douglas Adams when I “thought” of it and wrote it down. This girl might be careless, but I don’t think she’s stupid.
An efficient liar or cheater knows to use Shift-F7 (or thesaurus.com) when trying to pass something off as his own. Viswanathan did so in the “Personal Space” segment, where she replaced “psych class” with “human evolution class,” but failed to do so in the “170 specialty shops later” segment. Why didn’t she change it to “39 boutiques” or something like that? It’s not as if changing the details would have made it less plagiarized, but it really makes me wonder what was going on. Biscuit might be right– she might not have realised that she was copying.
Oh! I just read down to the bottom of the article, with the Tuesday/Thursday/Friday t-shirts, which were a pretty big plot point in Second Helpings. Did Viswanathan do this with the intention of paying homage or alluding to McCafferty’s books? I really don’t get it.
It’s a sad situation all around, and I think you summed it perfectly up in your beautifully proficient way.
“Ask the Owl” about plagiarism: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html
I’ve been thinking about this on and off during the day (it’s the end of the semester at the college at which I work, and I am basically googling papers for the same purpose.
It’s the “unintentional” defense that is annoying me. Several years ago I was asked to testify in a plagiarism case before the student honor court at Chapel Hill. I agreed, but told the defendant to tell me whether he was guilty as it would affect my character reference. No, no, he claimed, I’m being framed. I got the information that have accused me of copying from a rabbi. So I went into the court, and when I mentioned this to the judges, they grimaced; apparently the mythical rabbi had been thoughtful enough to give him the same wisdom that Abram Heschl has written in a book, DOWN TO THE PUNCTUATION.
And when I confronted the guy with it — he was tossed out of Chapel Hill and wound up transferring to my college — HE STILL CLAIMED THAT IT WAS A MIXUP. At no point did he ever accept responsibility for his actions.
Look, we’ve all played a little fast and loose with the truth upon occasion. But as Krissa pointed out, we were kids, and if the parents/guardians/whevs were doing their job, WE GOT CALLED ON IT.
My fear for this girl is that no one in her circle of authority is calling her on this nonsense. Plagiarism is bad, but it isn’t as bad as the kind of disassociation from ethics which she is being encouraged to maintain.
I was accused of plagiarism once. Sort of. One of my professors drew attention to the fact that my essay was 1000 words short of the target length and had a very smoothly written introduction. He drew a big bubble around it and wrote ‘This is yours?’ next to it.
He didn’t bring it to my attention any more than that, but I was incensed, and hunted him down in the faculty lounge at lunchtime and told him that I’d revised the essay four or five times, and didn’t think it needed anything else, and as for the introduction, well, I was proud of it.
He blustered and apologised, but I still think he thought I’d lifted it from somewhere, and it still smarts a bit.
As for this girl, well…we’ll never know just how much ‘assistance’ she received, or how much supervision, or if she copied or subliminally absorbed it. She’s up sh*t creek and paddling badly, though.
Unintentional really won’t hold up for long. Just read on the AP wire this morning that she seems to have also “borrowed” from “Can You Keep a Secret?” by Sophie Kinsella. *Sigh*
Stuart,
Had you written for the professor prior to this? At any rate, it says something for his self-esteem that he was unwilling to conceive that one of his students could actually produce a good piece of prose.
Right now I’m fighting the urge to be cute and clever (read: annoying) by plagiarizing from one of these comments or even from Krissa’s original entry. I just wanted to point out that this is what it looks like when I exercise self-control.
I do think she’s wrong for her plagarism, but I wonder if she was in a bind to change her story. I haven’t read any of the books in question, but it apparently she wanted to write a “dark” novel, but the one which got published is light and fluffy. Part of me is angry with her for plagarising, but the other part feels bad since there are more people who are happy with her defamation than learning from it.
I do think she’s wrong for her plagarism, but I wonder if she was in a bind to change her story. I haven’t read any of the books in question, but it apparently she wanted to write a “dark” novel, but the one which got published is light and fluffy. Part of me is angry with her for plagarising, but the other part feels bad since there are more people who are happy with her defamation than learning from it. I also think its interesting that the Crimson was the first to reveal the similarities.
As someone whose work has been ripped off, drawings, not writing though, it’s a pretty blcchy experience. For like five seconds I felt gratified that someone would like my work enough to steal it and claim that it was theirs. Then, I was like, whoa, that person is claiming my work as THEIRS!!!
I was also pretty shocked by how brazen the thief was. She took my drawings FROM MY WEBSITE and p t them on her website. And then she got caught. People who steal must live in constant denial.
I agree with you. . . it is really too bad that she didn’t say, “Hey! I have a full class schedule at HARVARD. I’ll write the book during spring break. Step off!”
Why didn’t her parents step in? Why not her agent?
Now with allegiations of a 2nd author being used, she doesn’t even have the wiggle room of it was unintentional anymore.
It’s odd. I feel bad for her and very angry about it all at the same time. No matter how pressured I have felt, I would never do this.
She’s also been accused of copying from The Princess Diaries and a Rushdie short story, as well as the Kinsella and the original stuff.
She IS stupid!
Thank you for that, Krissa, I appreciate your open mind of my situation. In closing, I just want to close with something that I just wrote last night on this topic: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Thank you for considering my words.
Ladies and Gentleman, see also: Why I love Greg.
I’ve been fascinated by this–with yet another addition to the slew of unreliable writers (Jayson Blair, James Frey, now her–all different in their deception, but deceiving just the same), I think we’re all beginning to wonder where truth fits in. Are we coming to a place of thinking, if it’s hot, if it shocks, if it sells–then does truth really matter?
If so, then that’s a scary thought–because in a world where the salacious, the sensational, and the easily packaged becomes more valuable than integrity, we’re all headed for a big journalistic crash.
Well, the safe, noble answer is that truth DOES matter, but I am not so sure anymore. In a world of solipsistic ethics, what is truth? It seems to me that in the post-Christian, and now post-modern world, that there is a lack of willingness to engage the hard questions. We stand bleary-eyed in the face of religious fundamentalists who may lack reason, but have certainty. While we . . . hesitate, look for extenuation, try desperately to see all points of view. And that isn’t wrong, but it does tend to leave one paralyzed in the face of excuses like Viswanathan’s. Truth is no longer a pragmatic choice. And before people jump me by saying “it never was”, I would ask them, “what can be more pragmatic than choosing that which defines us a human being, i.e. the truth or the good, which are interchangeable terms.
Our culture rewards mediocrity or worse(::cough::GEORGE BUSH) and assigns value on the basis of material success. Remember Barbara Bush’s comments upon the hapless people that fled New Orleans for Houston? (I hate to pick on the Bush Family, but honestly, there they are, aren’t they? )
Viswanathan would hardly have gone through all of this simply to get into SUNY-Oneonta (no offense, Oneonta). No, it was becaused she NEEDED the Harvard imprimatur to validate herself as worthwhile. And where did she get this message?
The village has failed the children.
But doesn’t it offend you as a young writer? I’m not entirely without sympathy for her – initally I believed the “unconscious” excuse because I can understand that, but the instances are much too many and much too specific for that to fly. She’s young, she was obviously under a lot of pressure, etc. BUT, regardless of how the plagiarism happened, it all makes me furious – I would kill for a book deal, and I’d sell the 2 novels in my head for a hell of a lot less than half a mill, and, oh yeah, writing novels is about the only thing I’ve wanted to for a living since I was 7 years old. And here we have KV who gets her shot and not only completely blows it (or allows her packager to blow it for her, whatevs, if you need some one else to write the book, then WHY DO YOU HAVE A BOOK DEAL? Guess that’s one for the publishers), she is quoted as saying that writing “doesn’t come naturally.” (See Gawker for reference – I believe she said that in an interview with an Indian paper and some Gawker stalker overheard her speaking w/ a prof at Harvard yesterday saying the same thing).
I felt the same w/ Frey – his book is poorly written fiction, and when he couldn’t sell it as such, instead of trying to improve his work, he called it a memoir, made millions of dollars, and then promtly suffered a PR shitstorm and got trounced by the O, all of which only raised his book sales. It just feels to me as if people like this are spitting in the faces of all the people out there who CAN (and love to) write, DON’T lie, and don’t want $500k or Oprah endorsements – just the opportunity to see their name on a spine at the local Barnes and Noble at least once.
check this out:
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/megcabot/16542.html
meg cabot wrote this and it’s in respons to the whole thing without saying anything actually about it.