The Contest continues!
The MehtaMorphosis Award
~ $75.00 ~
to the individual who pens
the best idea
for
the moral
of the Kaavya Viswanathan story.
We agree with the NYTimes’ Tom Zeller about the significance of Janek Ramakrishnan’s contribution to the ongoing discussion of the Opal Mehta controversy. In fact we think it forces a reframing of the entire debate.
The true moral has yet to be found. But Ramakrishnan does receive a $75 award for his observation; and we are extending the contest deadline to Monday, May 8.
Janek Ramakrishnan:
Viswanathan might have plagiarism issues with more than McCafferty’s books. In a review in the Harvard Crimson [Elizabeth Green, “There’s a True ‘Opal’ in Here, Somewhere,” Harvard Crimson 19 Apr. 2006], there are two quotes from Viswanathan’s book: “If from drink you get your thrill, take precaution—write your will,” and “All the dangerous drug abusers end up safe as total losers.”
These phrases bear a striking resemblance to those found in a novel of Salman Rushdie’s, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. In chapter 2, various road signs’ texts are given. Two of the four rhyming ones are, “If from speed you get your thrill, take precaution—make your will,” and “All the dangerous overtakers end up safe at undertaker’s.”
— Janak Ramakrishnan, online posting, 24 Apr. 2006, Sepia Mutiny, <http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/003294.html#comment57282>.
Honerable Mentions from submissions and discussion lists:
By Amy P. (of Republic of Heaven)
... It's time for books to come with more detailed authorship information, perhaps listing what percentage of the text derives from each source. If baby-food manufacturers must list everything that goes into the product, why should the publishing industry be left out?
Timothy Chambers, “Viswanathan Moral,” e-mail to Stalcommpol, 25 Apr. 2006.
Is it just a coincidence that the moral Viswanathans saga best exemplifies was first declared by fellow Harvardite, T. S. Eliot: “Good writers borrow; great
writers steal”?
By Psychobabble (of Well Heeled)
The controversy may be infinitely more interesting than the story itself.
By Richard Bradley (of Shots in the Dark)
Plagiarism is never the original sin but instead the symptom of some deeper dysfunction. . . . Here it's a case of a Harvard student having absorbed what could be the university's ascendant philosophy--achievement without a soul.
By D. E. Mcanulty, “Concept Piece?” e-mail to
Stalcommpol, 30 Apr. 2006.
Perhaps this is a brilliant concept piece in which Miss Viswanathan has orchestrated the entire thing to parade the emptiness of the social and financial structure behind the corporate-driven teen fiction genre, as well as creating a derisive commentary on the much-touted willingness of her generation to capitalize on the quick-fix.
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