Opal-Gate

Here`s an excellent commentary from Kurt Anderson of ``Studio 360``
http://studio360.org/commentary051206.html


Last summer, Kaavya published a New York Times Op-Ed piece, ``Growing Up With a Dose of Magic,`` about coming of age in thrall to Harry Potter. She said loved JK Rowling`s novels, she wrote, because of their ``promise of hope, sustaining the fundamental childhood belief that in the end, good really does triumph over evil, and justice is meted out to those who deserve it.``

A nice thought. A few weeks ago, Kaavya published her own first novel at nineteen. It`s called How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life, and it`s a more or less autobiographical account of a smart, obsessive, hyper-competitive Indian-American girl who reinvents herself to get into Harvard.

Just before publication, a reporter innocently asked if any particular book had inspired her.

``Nothing I read,`` Kaavya replied, ``gave me the inspiration.``

But it turns out she plagiarized from at least four teen-girl-romantic-comedy novels by three different young female authors.

She denied ``consciously`` plagiarizing...she couldn`t imagine how it happened.

[TODAY SHOW CLIP W/ KATIE COURIC]

Such chutzpah! No wonder she got into Harvard.

The publisher cancelled and recalled all 55,000 copies of her book.

[HARRY POTTER CLIP]

As in the Harry Potter world, truth triumphed over falsehood—if not good over evil—and justice is being meted out to those who deserve it.

[HARRY POTTER MUSIC BREAK]

This story is compelling for all the same reasons that an unknown girl was paid several hundred thousand dollars for a very slight novel in the first place—her highly promotable youth, good looks, poise, trendy ethnicity and the Harvard brand.

Also, a fiction writer caught stealing from other fiction is rare.

She obviously went a little crazy under deadline pressure, so desperate to keep impressing all the important adults who had so heavily invested in her. And this girl had already been taught that success was not just a matter of talent and hard work and luck, but of cunning—buying connections and cutting deals for behind-the-scenes assistance. A book packager helped her ``conceptualize and plot the book.``

Just as a $30,000-a-pop college counselor had helped her repackage herself to get into Harvard—a fact that she shamelessly confessed in the press...kind of like a beauty queen bragging about her fake boobs.

How shocked, shocked should we all be by this? We are now a culture of borrowers— musicians sample, painters appropriate, and that`s fine with me. The problem is that at the same time we`ve also forged a society in which misrepresentation is routine, OK, even encouraged. It`s normal now for politicians and executives and celebrities to have ghostwriters concoct their heartfelt speeches and memoirs. Sitcoms and pop music sound strange without digital enhancement of various kinds. On the internet, make-believe names and identities are assumed.

And when you take a look at the list of famous plagiarists of the last couple of decades, what you see are not pariahs so much, but people who get new, better jobs and bigger book deals, whose reputations in some cases remain golden.

So, this reversal of fortune that the Harvard girl, Kaavya, has now suffered may not be such a complete catastrophe given her hopes and dreams. Before her book came out, I read a detail that smelled wrong even at the time. Here she was, a big hot novelist at nineteen, but she didn`t want to be a writer when she got out of college. No, her sights are set on investment banking.

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Re: # 19
FV
I have not read the ``How OPal.....`` etc. However I suppose you could not call it great or good literature. Could you?

Corporations have been doing this for some time, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, a lot of James Hadley Chase, etc. have been written by corporations or at least a number of paid writers not a single person. And of course that wasn`t great literature either.. Of course these were before the media explosion so there were no interviews.

I tend to think it`s the money involved, rather than the manufacturing of a writer, since that has been going on for some time.

Incidentally where is Raywat Deonandan in the interacts. I hope he isn`t Kacchi Dhool. The R and D are similar. I can see nothing else!! -)

To get back to the subject…

Raywat Deonandan (yes, you are a scientist, among other things, but do not insist on the prefix ‘Dr’ for your writings):

While you have gone beyond the ‘Oops, I did it again’ (courtesy Britney spears, just in case!) on the Kaavya incident, to take the discussion even further one must examine the following…

[This is perhaps the most important reason that so many authors are offended by this particular scandal. It`s not so much that Kaavya was plucked from obscurity and hand-fed on her way to literary stardom; and it`s not that she (and her handlers) created a best-seller seemingly by stealing bits from another writer`s books. Rather, it`s because a corporate interest felt that it could arrogantly manufacture literature in absence of a singular artistic passion, and by means of committee.]

This portion of the article is important if we deal with the “book packaging” theme in this whole episode.

The arrogance of manufacturing literature, I would say, is not restricted to merely absence of artistic passion. Several established writers use a tried-and-tested USP (to give some the benefit of doubt, it is also their specialised concern/style) and are part of the manufacturing process much before the packagers come in. This is especially so in pulp writing. A genre may get created, but its sustainability depends on market forces.

To add to this, writers are now expected to make mandatory ‘book tours’. It has become a road-show – smile for the cameras, give interviews, read excerpts, sign copies…the days of the writer-as-recluse (or even just a writer) seem to be over. Now it is about the advance, the being shortlisted, the royalties, and of course the movie rights.

It isn’t a phenomenon restricted to or invented for teenagers and chick-lit, but has been going on for a while with some of the biggest names.

I would like to mention here an incident when a US-based academician was working on a book on Indian poetry from a certain region. He asked me if I knew any poets; I called up a friend and his response is worth noting: “I don’t see why I should talk to this man who will use my words for his so-called research. This is what most of these guys who prepare these academic papers do.”

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Re: #2, 14, 16

Plagiarism is a serious charge and it is considered defamatory and frivolous if that charge is made without real evidence. We request our readers and interactors to be very sure and have some evidence before making such allegations.

We wish to post an apology to the writer, Dr. Raywat Deonandan, whose article has been available on other sites since May 1st.

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I have a hunch that BJKumar was the first Chowkie to accuse Kaavya of plagiarism (and that too before she wrote (borrowed) the novel. Excellent work BJ. Three thumbs up.

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Re: # 12: what kind of a shitheaded comment is that? What are you a banker?

So she wants to become an investment banker? Well, she certainly has the morals (or the lack thereof) for becoming one!

Re: # 9

I know. She tried to pass her mother off as her ayah. You know when I first went to Calcutta many years ago, I asked for the directions to Free School Street because I wanted to see where she worked. It did raise a few eyebrows. Thought funnily enough I found a very old book store there where I got a collection of old Enid Blytons and Frank Richard`s Billy Bunter. She was part of the nightlife in Bombay too.
There was a fictionalised account of her life by Michael Korda her nephew by marriage called ``Queenie``

i can say that indians have arrived on the publishing scene (I know the pakis think its kinda uncool sentiment to expreess..low breeding an all, but that is their problem)..she is in a controversy just like dan brown. and kavya is almost living the opal further..definately a great second book in there..all original.

#5

swarrier, we may count Merle Oberon, but I dont think she would count herself ;-)

(she went to great pains to hide her Indian roots, claimed her ``exotic`` looks were because she was Tasmanian, to the great annoyance of Eroll Flynn).

a tragic life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Oberon

Dear author,

First get the name of the book right.

Secondly, don`t blame this on the parents, the publishers, the editors, the big bad wolf or Satan. This was the girl`s own doing. At 17, and an obviously precocious 17, she is old enough to take responsibility for her own actions. When we were in school and were caught copying, it was fairly non-negotiable that you lost a year, a potentially career-busting move. And we were a lot younger than Kaavya. All she lost was a couple of million dollars and -for what its worth- her credibility. Which doesn`t count for much in today`s world anyway.

Perhaps one of the few nicely written pieces. Kudos!!

Kavya is a criminal and the victim. Lieterary agents these days don`t research things or have the pedigree like they used to. She probably knew it was plagiarized but the pressure applied to a teenaged over achiever from the publishing house is also to blame.