Faking it - the Viswanathan case

The Sunday Times, London (30 April 06) reports: "Indian-born (Kaavya) Viswanathan was just 17 when she secured a two-book deal for $500,000 (£275,000) on the strength of her first novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life."

It all sounds like a happy ending to the long, hard years of struggle to become a writer. Not so. Two years on, Viswanathan’s books have been withdrawn from bookshops and her book tours cancelled. A Harvard graduate, she has been accused of plagiarising another student’s novel. Read the full report at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2769-2157647,00.html

In the Da Vinci case, Dan Brown was accused of plagiarising an idea and there is no law against that. The law protects an authors words and that is what Viswanathan is being accused of. By withdrawing Viswanathan’s books, her publisher has signalled that they believe the accusations to be true.

In the world of literature, creativity and originality are the commodities of value. That’s why plagiarism is seen as such a crime. A writer’s words are all that they have and a writer’s reputations rests on their words. To steal another writer’s words is to steal the results of their blood, sweat and tears. It will be very difficult for Viswanathan to recover her reputation from this.

In contrast, celebrity novels and books are often ghost-written but passed off as the celebrity’s own work. The ghost writer is rarely credited but walks away with a big cheque. Why is there no outcry about this? Perhaps there is an unspoken understanding that no-one expects a celebrity (especially if they are a footballer or popstar) to have the wherewithal to write their own book. Readers of such books don’t want originality and creativity but the story and the glamour of the celebrity aura so it doesn’t matter who writes it. Celeb books are like celeb perfume - no-one expects the star to have concocted the fragrance themselves. And similarly, the original writer - like the perfumiere - has been paid off for their silence.

So perhaps there’s a cynical lesson here for potential plagiarists out there. Make sure you pay off the writer whose work you take the credit for.

And get them to sign a confidentiality agreement.

For more on plagiarism, you might also like to read The Guardian’s article on plagiarism, with links to related plagiarism issues eg plagiarism at universities - see http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1767928,00.html