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Fri 28 Apr, 2006 01:30 pm
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer
NEW YORK Apr 28, 2006 (AP)?- Rarely has an author succeeded, then failed, so quickly as Kaavya Viswanathan, the Harvard University sophomore who acknowledged lifting material from another author's work for her debut novel, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life."
Just weeks after her book was released with a first printing of 100,000 and a wave of favorable attention, publisher Little, Brown and Company announced Thursday that "all editions" would be pulled from store shelves and that retailers had been asked to return unsold copies for "full credit."
Viswanathan, 19, has apologized repeatedly to author Megan McCafferty, saying she had read McCafferty's books voraciously in high school and unintentionally mimicked them.
But McCafferty's publisher, the Crown Publishing Group, believed Viswanathan guilty of "literary identity theft" and urged Little, Brown, which initially said her novel would remain on sale, to withdraw the book.
Little, Brown's statement left some issues unresolved. The publisher has said that "Opal Mehta" would be revised, but in its statement did not refer to a new edition. Neither Little, Brown, nor Viswanathan's agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, would offer immediate comment when asked by The Associated Press if the book was being changed, or canceled altogether.
Little, Brown also had no immediate comment on what would be done with the audio book and whether Viswanathan will have to return her advance. She has a two-book deal, reportedly worth six figures.
In a statement issued soon after Little, Brown's announcement, Crown said it was "pleased that this matter has been resolved in an appropriate and timely fashion" and praised McCafferty for "her grace under pressure throughout this ordeal."
McCafferty, in a statement released by Crown, said she was "not seeking restitution in any form" and hoped to put the affair behind her.
"The past few weeks have been very difficult, and I am most grateful to my readers for offering continual support," she said. "In my career, I am, first and foremost, a writer. So I look forward to getting back to work and moving on, and hope Ms. Viswanathan can too."
The Harvard undergraduate has stated that she "internalized" the other
author's works. Is "internalization" a crime?
"Internalization" is the plagiarist's euphemism.
"Theft" would be a more accurate word for what she did...
Apparently, if it is indistinguishable from another's original hard work.
D'artagnan wrote:"Internalization" is the plagiarist's euphemism.
"Theft" would be a more accurate word for what she did...
How could it be theft, if the student wasn't aware that she even did it?
Miller wrote:
How could it be theft, if the student wasn't aware that she even did it?
She is one hell of an internalizer. Some 40 examples of plagerism. Some of them entire paragraphs virtually word for word from other books.
My question is, where were the editors? This should have been caught before publication.
realjohnboy wrote:Miller wrote:
How could it be theft, if the student wasn't aware that she even did it?
She is one hell of an internalizer. Some 40 examples of plagerism. Some of them entire paragraphs virtually word for word from other books.
My question is, where were the editors? This should have been caught before publication.
She told the Public, she's got a photographic memory.
No plagiarist I've read about ever admits to plagiarism. It's usually "sloppy note-taking" or some such.
Miller, do you seriously think this author used the other's material unknowingly?
I'm hoping that they kick her ass out of Harvard. What a shameful thing to do. If you read the passages that she lifted from the other author's books, it's obvious that she merely changed a few words or locations but it's clear that she copied.
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Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan faces an accusation that numerous passages in her first novel, ''How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life" closely resemble a 2001 novel, ''Sloppy Firsts," by Megan F. McCafferty. Here are a few of the passages in dispute:
Best Friend
Bridget is my age and lives across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, these qualifications were all I needed in a best friend. But that was before Bridget's braces came off and her boyfriend, Burke, got on, and before Hope and I met in our seventh-grade honors class.
''Sloppy Firsts," page. 7
Priscilla was my age and lived two blocks away. For the first fifteen years of my life, those were the only qualifications I needed in a best friend. We had first bonded over our mutual fascination with the abacus in a playgroup for gifted kids. But that was before freshman year, when Priscilla's glasses came off, and the first in a long string of boyfriends got on.
'Opal Mehta," page 48
Personal Space
Marcus then leaned across me to open the passenger-side door. He was invading my personal space, as I had learned in Psych class, and I instinctively sank back into the seat. That just made him move in closer. I was practically one with the leather at this point, and unless I hopped into the backseat, there was nowhere else for me to go.
''Sloppy Firsts," page 213
Sean stood up and stepped toward me, ostensibly to show me the book. He was definitely invading my personal space, as I had learned in a Human Evolution class last summer, and I instinctively backed up till my legs hit the chair I had been sitting in. That just made him move in closer, until the grommets in the leather embossed the backs of my knees, and he finally tilted the book toward me.
You be the judge...
Plus the book concept itself is ever soooo close.
I can understand internalizing. I am doubtful that was what was going on.
I have a feeling her writing days are not over. She will possibly decide to write of her ordeal and have a top seller anyway. Not that I would approve, or bother reading it.
Harvard may review her standing as an Undergraduate, now.
ossobuco wrote:Plus the book concept itself is ever soooo close.
That could be the fault of the "Book Packaging" people.
How Kaavya got caught & got pulled
- Indian-American teenage author's dream story knocked off shop shelves
Kaavya: Not a happy ending
April 28: The fiction about an Indian-American teenager pushed relentlessly to succeed by ambitious parents has a happy ending.
The true life story of the Indian-born teen who wrote the book ?- which she says bears similarities to her own life ?- has taken a different turn. For 19-year-old Kaavya Viswanathan, unlike Opal Mehta, the fun comes at the beginning and the rejection at the end.
The self-confident, sophisticated Harvard student who became the toast of the publishing world and the envy of many an established author by bagging a $500,000 advance on her debut novel will have all copies of the book pulled off the shelves for plagiarism.
Just a day after saying it would not withdraw How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life from bookstores, the publisher ?- Little, Brown ?- reversed its decision yesterday.
Opal tells the story of a hard-driving teen who earns all A's in high school but gets rejected from Harvard because she forgot to have a social life. At the interview, she's stumped when she's asked what she does for "fun".
Opal's father concocts a plan code-named HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life) to get her past the admissions office.
In a statement last night, Michael Pietsch, senior vice-president of the publishing firm, said that in an agreement with Viswanathan, the company had "sent a notice to retail and wholesale accounts asking them to stop selling copies of the book and to return unsold inventory to the publisher for full credit".
Megan McCafferty, the author of Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings ?- from which Viswanathan has confessed to unintentionally copying passages ?- has said she was "not seeking restitution in any form". Crown Publisher, which brought out her books, said it is "pleased that this matter has been resolved in an appropriate and timely fashion".
"I look forward to getting back to work and moving on, and hope Viswanathan can, too," McCafferty said.
That wouldn't be easy for the Indian-American. The scandal would not only be a devastating blow to her personal reputation and career, but bring under the scanner success stories scripted by young Indians who are often pressured by their families to excel.
The episode also raises the question whether the publishing industry can turn literary wannabes into successful authors through marketing hype and packaging.
Viswanathan worked not only with her publisher but also with Alloy Entertainment -- known as a "book packager" -- in developing the concept for the novel and its first four chapters. She has said Alloy was not responsible for any of the copying.
In many instances, editors at Alloy craft proposals for publishers and create plots and characters before handing them over to a writer (or a string of them). Alloy owns or shares the copyright with the authors and then divides the advances and any royalties with them.
"In a way, it's kind of like working on a television show," said Cindy Eagan, editorial director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, a sister imprint of Viswanathan's publisher. "We all work together in shaping each novel."
In an interview on Wednesday, Viswanathan said that after an initial meeting with the book packager, "They asked about my life, who I wasÂ…. Basically, it was like, ?'Send us an email writing about yourself that seems most natural'."
Viswanathan said she wrote about not having a boyfriend, about the pressure her friends were feeling to get into good colleges and about being an Indian-American girl. "They liked that."
Alloy then worked with her on the book's first four chapters, making what Viswanathan described as very minor suggestions.
But the publishing contract Little, Brown signed is actually with Alloy, which holds the copyright to Opal together with Viswanathan.
The relationships between Alloy and the publishers are so intertwined that the same editor, Claudia Gabel, is thanked on the acknowledgments pages of both McCafferty's books and Viswanathan's Opal.
Gabel had been an editorial assistant at Crown Publishing Group, then moved to Alloy, where she helped develop the idea for Viswanathan's book. She recently left Alloy.
A spokesman for Random House, the publishing company that owns Crown, said Gabel had left the company "before the editorial work was completed" on Viswanathan's book.
"Claudia told us she did not touch a single line of Kaavya's writing at any point in any drafts," he said, adding that Gabel was one of several people who worked on the project in its conceptual stage.
The plagiarism row broke out last Sunday when Harvard Crimson reported that Viswanathan had plagiarised nearly 40 passages from McCafferty's books.
Little, Brown and Viswanathan had earlier said she would revise the book to remove the copied passages and that they would reissue it. Viswanathan, reached last night, declined to comment.
This is the new way of publishing? Books authored by a committee? Fiction prefabricated and manufactured by a staff?
Has she given the money back, yet?
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