What seemed like an exuberant emergence of another youth icon, a literary genius, turns out to be a washout, to the despair of many, certainly me being one. Always,if any person who has too many feathers in his/her cap turns out to be even a single minute elder to me, I have found all excuses to convince myself that I am still young to achieve those targets and will do it at an age as theirs . But, when I get to see some child/teenaged prodigies, my mind is an absolute pot-pourri of feelings- awe for the abilities at a tender age, depression for my not doing what folks younger to me could , guilt for having not utilized the potential ( I believe everyone has it in him/her, what might lack is the grooming or grit) and what not. So were the feelings when I read a snippet of India-born 19 year old novelist( ?), Kaavya Vishwanaathan who bagged a half-million dollar deal and a two-book contract. Her(?) book “ How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and got a life” was listed as the 32nd best seller and all the hype created kept me engrossed in the follow-ups. Not a speck of doubt I had about the integrity issues relating to this Harvard-pupil and her work until recently. But comparisons of passages just unveiled the fact beyond doubt. What was she up to? Daring to eyewash the world ? Anyone would be amazed at her infamous guts, but at the end of the day, she has had a fall, a tough one at that. She has turned out to be a plagiarist in an unsuccessful attempt to prove herself a prodigy. If she had no way but to plagiarize, could she not have taken tips from the Hindi movie industry which makes umpteen movies with the same story and still escapes, or some from a class of expert engineering students (barring the sincere-types) , whose assignments come as if from molds , or at the least sought the help of a thesaurus?
“High time you grew up, Kaavya”. It could have been unintentional or lack of awareness of the consequences, but, there’s no excusing some mistakes, right? I very much pity the mental stress Kaavya is being put through, but, as you sow, so shall you reap.
The Publishing houses, no doubt , should shoulder the responsibility to ensure that what they bring out meet the ethics of the media but it is impractical to expect them to identify every attempt of plagiarism. In an attempt to encourage a young talent, I suppose, the Little, Brown & Co burnt its fingers. As for repercussions, unfortunately, all wannabe writers have a tough task ahead to prove integrity of their work. In the process, some budding talent might lose the race owing to getting the motivation and enthusiasm hit by the ordeal involved.
If only it were easy to cheat the world, I would also do some scrap work to come up with a novel or two this weekend. Well, in the weekends to follow, I could have done still better for practice makes an act perfect, I suppose.
“High time you grew up, Kaavya”. It could have been unintentional or lack of awareness of the consequences, but, there’s no excusing some mistakes, right? I very much pity the mental stress Kaavya is being put through, but, as you sow, so shall you reap.
The Publishing houses, no doubt , should shoulder the responsibility to ensure that what they bring out meet the ethics of the media but it is impractical to expect them to identify every attempt of plagiarism. In an attempt to encourage a young talent, I suppose, the Little, Brown & Co burnt its fingers. As for repercussions, unfortunately, all wannabe writers have a tough task ahead to prove integrity of their work. In the process, some budding talent might lose the race owing to getting the motivation and enthusiasm hit by the ordeal involved.
If only it were easy to cheat the world, I would also do some scrap work to come up with a novel or two this weekend. Well, in the weekends to follow, I could have done still better for practice makes an act perfect, I suppose.
9 comments:
Even though Kaavya apologized for what she has done, and claims it to be unintensional, there seems to be simply too many instances of 'borrowing' for this to have been unintentional. There are more than 40 passages which seems to be 'borrowed'. But I think the more outrage should be on what bollywood is upto lately. Its just so easy to copy a story line and no credit whatsoever to the original script writers. Many a times the hindi film makers even claim that they are not inspired by any hollywood movie, fearing it would take the credit away from them(which they never deserved).
@Raghu,
There was no way but to apologize for her grave mistake. Or was it possible to try her luck in defending herself by saying that she coincidently came up with the same storyline oblivious of its existence?
http://speakego.blogspot.com/2006/01/all-great-men-think-alike.html
You have rightly stated the existence of plagiarism in the movie industry.More often than not, watching movies puts forth just one petty brain-teaser, how fast you identify the source movie of which this is a duplicate and vacate the place.
Rightly said Rashmi. There is a world of difference between being inspired by ones work and plagiarising the same. Getting inspired is common in the literary world. Of course there have been works of genius whose work; right from conceiving the idea till turning it into a great work for the world to read, have been 100% original. And there might be other equally good works, which might have the idea or theme borrowed from somewhere.Its good as long as the intent of the writer is to only get a small spark of an idea. It is entirely upto him to turn it into a good work of his own. I appreciate this case for at some point or the other each writer, I suppose, goes through what is known as a "Writer's Block". But in the case of Kavya, it seems that she has dared to hoodwink the whole world by literally ripping off passages from another writer.She very much deserves the humiliation she has been put through.It is sad that there are still very creative original writers knocking on the doors of publishers with their works and getting rejected for the lack of a glamorous image or background. With this incident atleast we shall hope that the publishers wake up and take note of these issues.
@Enigma,
Absolutely.Literary works are successful in the literal sense,if besides conveying the intent , they can also evoke inspiration in others to express their talent. But, acknowledgement should go to the credit of the source of inspiration which was seemingly deliberately veiled in this case.
More than anything else, what disappointed me the most was forseeable arduous task ahead of the first-timers to prove their mettle. It was however difficult, as you said, for ones who didnt have a "sophisticated" backing, now it only got worser. When a very talented J.K.Rowling had a disgusting line of rejections as a first-timer, how can others be spared?
No one can really blame the publishing houses, more so with this backdrop because anyone once bitten would be twice shy.It is no doubt, a gloomy incident for the fresh talent yet to make a mark.
40 passages of plagiarised stuff seems too big a number for a Harvard sophomore. Come on, she could have easily have done with fewer number. But if her school essays did have some quality then she should have been able to write originally and not get caught in the mess. I am actually baffled. May be the book was never meant to be a best seller in the first place. The whole American media driven obsession of finding a spicy story, coupled with the prodigal talent of a South Asian girl, created all the wrong noises. My heart goes out to Kaavya, but I think the media is as much to blame.
@Sujeet,
I am also of the opinion that 24x7 news channels are always on the run for some spicy stuff to keep the viewers hooked. If a person plays cricket, we are blessed ( rather forced) to know what tooth-paste his grandfather uses for his replaceable dentition too!Media also has its share of responsiblity, but tell me one thing, had it not been this hyped, the blunder could as well have skipped the hawk-eye,right?
However, I have one doubt. Do you still opine that Kaavya is prodigy?
You can find folks pretty good at literature at colleges who are not serious about pursuing literature as profession,right? When we have not witnessed what her talent is, how can we say she is a prodigal talent? Me not sure.Did I get it right?
Rashmi, What beats me how did she think she could get away with it?How can she be so dumb ?40 passages is a huge number, no way it can coincidental. As you said,this is going to create many hurdles for wannabe writers. how is one supposed to prove the integrity of his work?
I dont think we ll ever get to know how good she is at writing. May be she is a prodigy, may be not. But, henceforth, it will really be a miracle if she writes again and proves to the world her talent.
I guess its just one of those teeny-bopper thingies that happen at the wrong time.
@Catch22
Welcome to the blog!
About 'proving the identity', yeah..God alone knows ( Or doesn't he too?)
@Sujeet,
Agreed. As hastily the world appreciates a person, still easily it rejects when one has had a fall.
Don't we know of all the V.I.Ps who are praised when at their best and thrashed when having a lean patch? Not spared minutely too.An act not to be blamed for that's the stake one has to take to make it big in front of worldly audience. We are doing the same criticism too.
Maybe, she might get deprived of a chance to prove herself as a consequence of her stupid act.
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