How an Author Got Lazy, Got Caught and (Maybe) Got Away WIth It

There are so many things wrong with this story I don't know where to start. Kaavya Viswanathan, a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard, is being accused of plagiarizing another novelist's work for her own brand new novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life.

Apparently, there are 29 passages that almost exactly match passages found in Megan F. McCafferty's 2001 novel Sloppy Firsts and 2003 novel Second Helpings. The Harvard Crimson has examples here. An investigation by both authors' publishing companies has begun (they were tipped off by an anonymous fan of McCafferty).

Viswanathan admits to having been a big fan of those books in high school, yet has the nerve to dismiss any similarities between the books as "unintentional and unconscious." She then goes on to explain, "I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words."

According to a New York Times profile, Viswanathan had completed a large novel about Irish history while still in high school. Her parents hired her a specialist in college applications, and when the specialist read Viswanathan's work, she was so impressed she passed it on to the William Morris Agency. The Agency lead to an agent which lead to a book packaging company which lead to her publisher, Little, Brown. By the time she was 17 she had a two-novel deal for $500,000 based on four chapters of the novel and an outline. A movie based on Opal Mehta is already in the works.

It seems some people have theorized that this is the result of "cryptomnesia," where one's brain incorrectly attributes rememberd information to the wrong source. I understand this idea (I occassionally attribute a previous conversation to the wrong friend) but it seems like a stretch to apply it here.

Even if she's talented, smart and hard-working enough to get into Harvard, that doesn't mean her writing talent is worth half a million dollars. I don't know everything about the publishing industry, but half a million dollars for only two books by an inexperienced teenager does not make any sense to me. Even before these plagiarism allegations came out, this deal made no sense.

Everyone is "inspired" or "influenced" by other artist's work. But to say any similarities (and these go beyond similarities, these sentences are word-for-word copies) are "unintentional and unconscious" isn't going to fool anyone. Cryptomnesa? 29 times (and that number seems to be growing)? I don't think so. Luckily, McCafferty's publishers at Crown, a division of Random House, described it more accurately as "literary identity theft."

Oh, and apparently future editions are going to have the "similarities" taken out or edited. Plus, Harvard doesn't seem to care as this is concerning "non-academic work". So let me get this straight: Viswanathan doesn't suffer any consequences at school, the book will still be published (and now with a lot more publicity that is helping her - and McCafferty's - sales), she's still pocketing the half a mil (unless she gets sued and loses) and the movie is, at this point, still being made. While it's too early to tell what the outcome of this situation will be, it seems like she'll do pretty well no matter what.

(On somewhat of a side note, I understand that a college sophomore with a huge book deal makes for an interesting profile, but I hope this will encourage the NY Times, with its national audeince, to broaden its scope. The incestuous, insular nature of New York and Ivy League schools (both with each other and in their own circles) is just plain annoying. There are plenty of young, talented writers with book deals in this country who actually write their own material that are worthy of the coverage, publicity and hype Ms. Viswanathan received. Rea Frey of Columbia College, my alma mater, wrote a well-received book while graduating as the valedictorian - where's her profile?)