Plagiarism
Charges Plague Young Author
By Dr. Syed Amir
Bethesda, MD
She is only nineteen and a
second-year student at Harvard University, but
her name has become well known to millions of
people around the globe.
Kaavya Viswanathan, a first-generation Indian-American,
gained huge notoriety when her first novel “How
Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life”
was recently withdrawn from bookstores across
the United States after charges of plagiarism
surfaced. Only a few weeks ago, her novel had
climbed to 32nd place in the New York Times’
bestseller list among books of fiction. Her publishers,
Little, Brown and Co. had been so impressed with
her literary talents and style that, while she
was still 17, they signed a contract with her
for two books, offering her an advance of $500,000.
Customarily, authors also receive a royalty of
15 percent of the cover price of their books.
For a teenager, with no prior literary experience,
it was an astounding windfall. The book advance
was just the start. Her sudden fame attracted
the attention of movie makers, and it was reported
that negotiations were already underway to produce
a film based on her novel, a venture potentially
far more lucrative than the book rights she had
sold to Little, Brown and Co.
This fairy tale came to an abrupt end however.
The novel had been in bookstores only a few weeks,
when the Harvard student newspaper, The Harvard
Crimson, charged Viswanathan with plagiarism,
claiming that she had copied some passages in
her book from two novels by the popular American
author Megan McCafferty, Sloppy First and Second
Helpings. In total, it was alleged that more than
forty passages in Viswanathan’s novel may
have been borrowed from McCafferty’s two
books. Soon, the controversy spread beyond the
Harvard campus. The Crimson article caught the
attention of the respected national newspapers
The New York Times and The Washington Post, among
others; both extensively covered the story in
several feature articles. The plagiarism allegations
went beyond Ms. McCafferty’s two books.
Some journalists discovered that at least three
passages in Viswanathan’s book may have
been borrowed from another novel, Can You Keep
a Secret, by the British author, Sophie Kinsella,
Initially, Viswanathan denied the charge that
she had copied any segment of her novel from any
other sources, conceding, however, that she was
an ardent admirer of McCafferty’s writings,
having read them several times while she was a
high school student. She claimed that she had
a photographic memory and might have internalized
what she read, and that any similarities between
the contents of her novel and McCafferty’s
books were unconscious and inadvertent. Her publishers
initially stood by her side while the dispute
raged and refused to recall the book.
Both the author and the publisher promised that
a revised version of the novel would soon be issued
that would be free from the contentious passages.
They had hoped that these steps would squelch
the flames of controversy. This assessment, alas,
proved to be overly optimistic. As the trouble
mushroomed and compelling evidence of literary
misconduct mounted, the publishers were eventually
forced to recall all 100,000 copies of the book
shipped to bookstores. Paradoxically as the book
was withdrawn, it became a collector’s item.
The price of the few available copies jumped to
$90, much higher than its cover value. In the
aftermath of all the accusations, Viswanathan’s
second book contract was also cancelled.
The story in the book follows a popular theme,
familiar in much recent fiction: children of parents
who emigrated from the Indian subcontinent who
find themselves torn between two cultures. The
heroine, Opal Mehta, is an upper-class, Indian-American
girl, much like the author herself, whose parents
desperately desire to get her admitted to Harvard.
After many preparations, when she appeared for
an admission interview, the Harvard Dean advised
her that her academic credentials alone were not
enough to get her the admission; she needed something
more. She had to make some new friends, taste
life outside the classroom and find some romance
in her life. She embraced the advice whole-heartedly,
but then having accomplished all that, she felt
unfulfilled, realizing that a middle course between
the two differing lifestyles was the best choice.
Some critics had initially lauded the book before
plagiarism was discovered commenting favorably
on Viswanathan’s writing style and her potential
as a creative writer.
The story of Viswanathan’s journey to Harvard
and her debut as an author is both interesting
and instructive. It underscores the pressures
which children of ambitious immigrant parents
find themselves under as they strive to comply
with the expectations of their parents. Born in
Chennai (Madras) India, she spent a decade growing
up in England, before her parents, both physicians,
moved to America. Admission to highly competitive
Ivy League schools, like Harvard, requires some
professional advice and packaging, besides simple
scholastic achievements. To bolster her admission
prospects to Harvard, her affluent parents hired
a private counselor to help her prepare her application
and study for various entrance tests, for a sum
of $10,000 or $20,000. The investment proved worthwhile,
since Viswanathan was admitted to Harvard two
years ago.
Besides facilitating her admission, the counselor
also helped her in promoting her writing as well,
introducing her to an editor of one of the book
prepackaging companies that specialize in young-adult
fiction. Professional writing in the West has
been transformed into a highly commercialized,
sophisticated enterprise. Editors working at these
companies often initiate a concept, develop a
story line, identify characters, and then find
a willing author to write the book along the broad
outlines specified by them. Viswanathan, who started
her book project as a high school student, also
received help in developing at least the first
four chapters of her book.
Some book critics have taken a compassionate view
of Viswanathan’s confessed transgressions,
describing them as youthful indiscretions of a
teenager. However, incidents of plagiarism are
not unknown even in the writings of established,
experienced authors. One of the most famous cases
is that of the highly popular historian, Doris
Goodwin, a Harvard professor who had won the Pulitzer
Prize for literature and worked for some time
for President Lyndon Johnson. She was accused
a few years ago of copying in her book, The Fitzgeralds
and the Kennedys, dozen and dozen of phrases from
the book of another author, Kathleen Kennedy.
Godwin later apologized, attributing her lapses
to the negligence of her research assistants.
The incident, however, did not permanently damage
her career or reputation as a writer.
While Harvard University ponders over the question
of what penalty if any should be imposed on Viswanathan,
the young author remains on an extended leave
of absence. Meanwhile, most critics hope that
she would learn from her mistakes and will in
time emerge as a mature author with an original
style and expression.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
