That Plagiarism Scandal

[mabfan]

I haven't been following the Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism scandal too closely because I've had friends doing it for me. However, I do want to note one speculative point that I made yesterday that appears to be correct.

Yesterday, writer Stephen Leigh (sleigh) noted in this post that the book was put together by a book packager. I suggested in one of my replies that it was entirely possible that the packager was the one who really committed the plagiarism. (Still, Viswanathan would have to take full responsibility, since it is her name on the book.)

Well, there are two articles I found today that would appear to substantiate my theory.

First, today's New York Times article "A Second Ripple in Plagiarism Scandal" points out that some passages in the Viswanathan novel were lifted from yet another book, implying that the plagiarism was deliberate.

Secondly, the Harvard Independent article "Kaavya Case Not First Plagiarism Controversy for Opal Mehta Packager" points out that the packager had been found guilty of committing plagiarism before.

Methinks the packager is mostly at fault, but as I said before, Viswanathan has to take responsibility as well.

Comments

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of something that happened when I was in graduate school. A fellow at the Great American University I was attending was found to have stolen gobs of somebody else's textbook for his own. His defense was that he didn't even read the book in question. His own, I mean. The publisher had just paid to use his name. He found another job. But kept his international reputation as a scholar.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

From this we learn rule #1: Always read any book that will have your name listed as author before the book is published. :-)