No question about it: these passages are plagiarism by any standard [thanks to Andi for the link]. So, like I said, she's an idiot. But I would still hold that the larger issues are more important: why are book packagers creating our books? why does a teenager get such an absurd advance? what kinds of pressures would lead such a high-achieving kid to do such a thing? why are we so eager to see someone successful fall on her face?
And, most importantly, why do the literary, culture, and media whores among us (yours truly definitely included) go nuts over literary lies while ignoring the outrageous lies perpetrated by our current government, lies that cause infinitely more harm than some teenager stealing some lines from a book, or even some ex-alcoholic exaggerating his foibles? That is what, I think--I hope--will be the focus of future cultural histories of our decade.
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Well, yes, exactly. The packager (where is that story being told? I didn't see it...) is clearly at fault, though the author has to take responsibility for books with her name on them. And, even more yes, there are far bigger lies being told. I am outraged by them, but somehow it's harder to get that story told. Sigh.
Um, I totally agree about the money, the Harvard, the competition, and the bigger issues. Nevvuh-the-less, a lie is a lie. The whole packaging story is creepy, or seedy, at least, and one has to tell one's own story.
I am somewhat troubled by the author's age, too. Was the publisher selling the story of the author as well as the story? Or am I naive to even ask?
Full disclosure: when the book first came out I was so jealous and full of remorse that I didn't read the whole story and immediately forgot about it. At 19, to quote A.A. Milne's poetry, "I had just begun."
Oh, never mind finding the packager story. It's on the NYTimes home page today. As always, Becca scoops the Times!
I agree with Lucy, too.
Yes, yes, yes. I was going to comment on your original post that what depressed me the most was that there were 70+ Technorati links to that Crimson article, but fewer than 10 to the most recent article in the Washington Post about the administration's lies. Grrrrr.
Looks like it took Malcolm Gladwell about a week to get to your original point:
http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/2006/04/viswanathangate.html
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