Famous Plagiarists.com © WarOnPlagiarism.org-- Pop-Fiction/Non-Fiction Profiles

Occupation:

Astrologer and "chick-lit" Author

Allegations:

Plagiarism of an Agatha Christie work in writing up a short story for the British street magazine, The Big Issue

Results:

Tainting of reputation

Known for:

"Chick-lit" publications, astrology columns

Overview:

"Murder, she rewrote: author accused of plagiarism" read the headline in The Australian in outlining the plagiarism charges against "chick-lit" author and astrologer Jessica Adams.

As a best-selling author originally from Australia, Adams' reputation as a creative writer has came under question after publication of a short story in a British street magazine. The story in question, "The Circle", as perceptive readers pointed out, bore some striking similarities to an Agatha Christie murder tale written in 1928.

Those most familiar with the case, for example, Dr. Debra Adelaide of Sydney's University of Technology, believe the case to be one of "cut-and-dried plagiarism". Jessica Adams has apparently committed the "unforgivable sin" of a creative writer.

References

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Timothy Barrus, AKA Nasdijj

Profile:

POPF/NF-2006-TB

Name:

Timothy Barrus, AKA Nasdijj

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Red: Severe Risk

Occupation:

Formerly a struggling writer of gay erotica; Most recently hailed as a Navajo memoirist with the publication of the books The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams (2000), The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (2003); Geronimo's Bones: A Memoir of My Brother and Me (2004); Nasdijj quickly became "one of the most celebrated multicultural writers in American literature" (Fleischer, M. "Navahoax")

Allegations:

Complete fabrication of a Navajo identity under the bogus name Nasdijj; Plagiarism, parroting, and mimicking of Native American authors such as N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Silko, Michael Dorris, Sherman Alexie

Results:

Initially, Barrus' work "met with nearly universal critical praise"(Fleischer, M. "Navahoax"); then, doubts about the authenticity of Nasdijj and exposure of fabrications led to subsequent public outrage

Known for:

Limited success as an author of gay erotica and sadomasochistic literature

Overview:

On January 26, 2006, LA Weekly's Matthew Fleischer broke the story about "a struggling white writer of gay erotica becom[ing] one of multicultural literature's most celebrated memoirists--by passing himself off as Native American" ("Navahoax").

Suspicions had already been aroused by certain inconsistencies and factual innacuracies in the work of Nasdijj, the pen-name of Timothy Barrus, a native of Lansing, Michigan who came from a middle-class background with a family tree reaching back to the American Revolution and including ancestors such as Cyrus McCormick--not at all the Navajo identity fabricated in three 'memoirs' penned by Timothy "Nasdijj" Barrus:

The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams (2000, Houghton Mifflin)

The Boy and the Dog Are Sleeping (2003, Ballantine)

Geronimo's Bones: A Memoir of My Brother and Me (2004, Ballantine)

Despite early suspicions of some reviewers and genuine Native American authors, the (supposed) memoirs of Nasdiij "met with nearly universal critical praise" writes Fleischer. Sherman Alexie was among the first reviewers to notice the queer way that Nasdiij seemed to be borrowing from his (Alexie's) and other works by Native Americans: "The whole time I was reading I was thinking, this doesn't just sound like me, this is me . . . At first I was flattered but as I kept reading I noticed he was borrowing from other Native writers too [N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Silko, Michael Dorris]. After reviewing The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams, Alexie "determined the book was fraudulent . . . refused to blurb the book . . . accused Nasdijj of both manufacturing his identity and plagiarism at a private lunch with Nasdijj's editor Anton Mueller" but the book was published anyway, potential fraud notwithstanding.

As Fleischer continues in his LA Weekly scoop on this 'Navahoax', with regard to Timothy 'Nasdijj' Barrus' appropriations, "there was never more than a similar phrase here and there, [but] Alexie was convinced that the work was fabricated." The inconsistencies and inaccuracies were growing. Not only did Nasdiij inaccurately describe the symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrom in his first 'memoir', but he also was mistaken about the matriarchal societal structure of the Navajo.

Nasdiij claimed he did not belong to a clan since his father had been a white cowboy, his mother a Navajo drunk. As Professor Irvin Morris of Dine College explains, "Our [Navajo] lineage is passed on through our mother. If his mother had a clan, he has a clan." Morris also points out that the name Nasdiij itself doesn't exist in Navajo, "It's gibberish." It was errors and inconsistencies such as these which led Morris to suspect from the very first of the Nasdiij memoirs that the author was a fake (Fleischer, M. "Navahoax"; Donovan, B. "Michigan man fakes memoirs of growing up Navajo" from NavajoTimes.com).

The fabrications and plagiaries being discovered on a regular basis among memoirists and other claimants to Native American ancestry would seem to be part of a trend, part of the "book-hyping" phenomenon at the expense of truth and authenticity. As David Ray observes in response to the Frey memoir scandal involving A Million Little Pieces:

The real responsibility for the Frey affair lies with the entire industry of book-hyping--dependent on well-financed promotion, the link between advertising and reviewing, and media that seem obliged to maintain hysteria-level gushing over this book or that. . . . They are there for the phonies with absurd pseudo-memoirs claiming to be fugitives from Nazis or bona fide Navajos or Cherokees. They are there for white men whose manuscripts are rejected, then published and hyped when they change their names to give them tribal heritage . . . Unfortunately the priority is not truth or authenticity [emphasis added] . . . those of us (including Oprah) who have shared the painful truths of our pasts, often life-threatening and shared only after years of secrecy and the shame of victimhood, therapy, and stigma, can only be insulted by the preference in "memoirs" for tall tales over accounts of what we wish had never been true in our lives. A culture of inauthenticity assures that lies will always trump truth. . . . we must conclude that they live in a pathological culture, one where pride and profit can be taken while paying lip service to truth. (Ray, D. "A Million Little Pieces of Shame")

Timothy 'Nasdijj' Barrus has a clan and a tribe all right, but it's not Navajo or Dine as the Navajo call themselves. He's in the same tribe as University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill, the "quintessential professor run amok . . . ." (John Gravois in "Colorado Governor Proposes Standardizing the Tenure Process, a Possible Response to the Ward Churchill Controversy", Chronicle of Higher Education). And this tribe is neither Navajo nor Cherokee, the latter being the American Indian ancestry claimed by Churchill as a seeming ploy to improve his status within academia.

Barrus, Churchill and many others belong to what has been called the "Cheating Culture" (D. Callahan, A Cheating Culture), what might be called the Tribe of Many Cheats comprising a diverse array of individuals uncertain of--and unsatisfied with--their own identities, abilities, and backgrounds. Professors, memoirists, politicians, business shysters, scientists, entertainers and many other members of this large tribe vie continually for the title of Chief Big Cheat.

The Nasdiij "Navahoax" represents yet another downright detestable appropriation of Native American identity and culture from a people (Dine) who are struggling to maintain their separate language and culture in the face of American mainstream "pop-culture" dominance.

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Dan Brown

Profile:

POPF/NF-2003-DB

Name:

Dan Brown

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Occupation:

Thriller Fiction Author

Allegations:

Plagiarism in bestselling book The Da Vinci Code

Results:

Still under review by Forensic Linguistics Institute and other specialists; legal wrangling likely to follow

Known for:

Bestselling works of thriller fiction including Digital Fortress, Deception Point, and Angels and Demons

Overview:

Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code allegedly has infringed on the rights of the authors of a similar bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail which dates back twenty years from Brown's bestselling thriller which draws on extant religious conspiracy theory.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are the authors seeking damages from Brown and Random House for lifting "the whole architecture" of their Holy Blood and the Holy Grail work. They allege that The Da Vinci Code has plagiarized the years of research spent in the development of their hypothesis involving the marriage of Jesus to Mary Magdalene and the establishment of a royal bloodline and secret societies such as the Knights Templar.

In another allegation, Brown has also infringed/plagiarized the works of author Lewis Purdue, including Daughter of God and The Da Vinci Legacy. The Forensic Linguistics Institute analysis as reported at http://www.davincilegacy.com concludes that "evidence of infringement is overwhelming" after a lengthy list of alleged similarities between the works.

Thrillers in what might be called the "Religious Conspiracy" genre have been labeled as "Read-alikes" for their similarities--secret societies, mysterious murders, documents supposedly supporting a religious conspiracy theory.

Is there more substance to the charges than a mere "read-alike" labeling would suggest? The identical plot lines and features of The Da Vinci Code and the works of Lewis Purdue suggest at face value that there might be a basis to at least some of the allegations. For now, readers must await the legal outcome, although as other cases have demonstrated (i.e. Florence Deeks vs. H.G. Wells), such legal pronouncements are not always the final verdict.

Update: As of August 2005, Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown was cleared in a New York court of plagiarism allegations by Lewis Perdue (Read decision by United States District Judge George B. Daniels). Perdue has vowed to appeal, so despite this initial victory by Dan Brown, this may not be the last word on the plagiarism allegations (by Perdue as well as other authors).

Update: Dan Brown's latest legal skirmish involves lawsuit filed in the UK by Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent who allege that Brown and Random House lifted "the whole architecture" of their research for the book "The Holy Blood, and the Holy Grail" ('Da Vinci' author 'stole plot').

London lawsuit outcome: As reported in The Independent, Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown has prevailed in court against Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which they claimed Brown had plagiarized in developing his own book in this genre of religious conspiracy theory. Forced to pay court costs by their loss, Baigent and Leigh are now stuck with a hefty legal bill of £2 million pounds! (Milmo, C. "Brown wins 'Da Vinci Code' plagiarism battle"). "War on Plagiarism" Threat level downgraded to green, "Low risk of further plagiarism activities/discoveries/related incidents. Denotes a low-level, minor occurrence of plagiarism and/or un-substantiated charges with discovery of further incidents un-likely."

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Barbara Chase-Riboud

Profile:

POPF/NF-1986-BCR

Name:

Barbara Chase-Riboud

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Occupation:

African-American Writer

Allegations:

Plagiarism of a non-fiction book in her book Valide: A Novel of the Harem

Results:

Mostly inconsequential, although critics have noted the irony in such allegations given Ms. Chase-Riboud's accusations that Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg (see Spielberg entry on Entertainment page of Famous Plagiarists) had plagiarized her book in making the movie Amistad

Known for:

Works of art and African-American works of historical fiction; received the Kafka Award (for Sally Hemings), the Carl Sandberg Prize; also known for pursuing allegations of plagiarism against Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks over the movie Amistad

Overview:

Suspected of being a "gold-digger" for relentlessly pursuing Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg for allegedly plagiarizing her historical novel Echo of Lions in producing the film Amistad, Barbara Chase-Ribaud's career as an African-American writer has had moments of intense controversy.

After accusing Dreamworks/Steven Spielberg of plagiarism, she herself has come under fire for plagiarizing the work of another author. Chase-Ribaud's Valide: A Novel of the Harem, a work of historical fiction, contains passages taken verbatim from N.M. Pentzer's The Harem.

In response, Chase-Ribaud claimed in a New York Times interview, "I have a technique of sort of weaving real documents and real reference materials into my novel and making a seamless narrative using both documents and fiction".

References

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Chris Elliott

Profile:

POPF/NF-2005-CE

Name:

Chris Elliott

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Comedian, Actor, recently new Novelist

Allegations:

Kidnapping Boilerplate, the robot creation of Paul Guinan as "a postmodern, post-dated parody of a hoax" (E. Wyatt); possibly plagiarism, but more likely a rehearsed instance of copyright infringement designed to generate sales for the recently released books The Shroud of the Thwacker and Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate

Results:

Out of court financial settlement; increase in sales rank for both books at Amazon.com

Known for:

Acting and comedy roles in Get a Life ; Cabin Boy; Groundhog Day; Late Night with David Letterman

Overview:

In "The Strange Case of the Spoofer Captured by a Spoof" (E. Wyatt, New York Times), it at first seems that actor and author Chris Elliott has fallen for an online joke, infringing on the copyright owner of Boilerplate. Boilerplate is a 19th century robot who never really existed in the first place--except in the imaginative creations of Paul Guinan, and in the minds of others who, like Elliott, have been taken in by the digitally altered photographs at bigredhair.com.

This case, discussed since the New York Times article on CNBC TV and other media outlets, might be labeled "The Case of the Kidnapped Robot that Never Was".

(Professor J.P. Lesko discussing "The Case of the Kidnapped Robot that Never Was" on CNBC TV. November 1, 2005)

The fictitious robot appears in Elliott's just released (October 2005) parody-murder-mystery-sci-fi novel The Shroud of the Thwacker, a work of *historical* crime fiction intended to be a spoof of figures such as Teddy Roosevelt, Yoko Ono . . . and Boilerplate.

Slight problem here. Boilerplate isn't historical. He was never invented by Professor Archibald Campion for exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago (see digitally altered photo above). Rather, Boilerplate is an invention of the postmodern imagination, "a postmodern, post-dated parody of a hoax" (E. Wyatt) who features first in Guinan's comic/graphic novel Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate and at the website bigredhair.com.

Plagiarism? The word has been mentioned. But this case of the kidnapped robot that never was seems more like a relatively minor instance of copyright infringement (already settled out of court before the scandal even broke) with a possible whiff of gimmickry and sales-mongering.

One can almost envision an excited 3-way cell phone conversation between Elliott, Guinan and a publishing rep: "Great idea! Here's your cut, this'll be mine . . . good publicity for our new books . . . "

Both authors, Elliott and Guinan, are set to profit off of this "scandal" which has suspiciously broken right about the time that any new book could use a good sales boost--Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate was released in July 2005, The Shroud of the Thwacker in October of 2005. The 'plagiarism' and/or copyright infringement story *broke* on November 1st 2005 in the New York Times. Hmmmmmmm . . . coincidence? Or rehearsed 'scandal'? Gasp! Boilerplate kidnapped by Elliott! Fell for an Internet spoof? NO WAY!

References

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Guo Jingming

Profile:

POPF/NF-2004-GJ

Name:

Guo Jingming

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Author, university student

Allegations:

Plagiarism of another book in Guo's popular (over 1 million sold) novel Never Flowers In Never Dream

Results:

Court decision mandated that Guo and his publisher pay 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) to Zhuang Yu for copyright infringement of her work; Guo and the publisher were also required to publish an apology in China Youth Daily; Beijing Books Building required to cease sales of Never Flowers In Never Dream

Known for:

Best-selling work of fiction, Never Flowers In Never Dream, was a big hit with young people in China, selling over a million copies; "arguably the most famous young commercial writer in China" (China Daily, December 8, 2004).

Overview:

Perhaps "the most famous young commercial writer in China", university student-author Guo Jingming was found by a court of law to have plagiarized and infringed on the copyright of another author. The work in question was Guo's novel Never Flowers in Never Dreams, an immensely popular book among China's youth selling well over a million copies ("Popular young writer loses plagiarism lawsuit." China Daily, December 8, 2004).

The author from whom Guo plagiarized, Zhuang Yu, sued for damages in the amount of 500,000 yuan, around US$60,000. Although Zhuang did not get this full amount, an intermediate court in Beijing ruled in her favor, awarding Zhuang 200,000 yuan, around US$24,000. Also included in the ruling was an order for Guo and his publisher Chunfing Press to submit an apology for publication in China Youth Daily.

Because Zhuang had published her book first, the Beijing intermediate court agreed that Guo had infringed on her copyright to Zhuang's work. However, it the court did not agree with Zhuang's contention that the idea, langauge, and character creation had been violated: "There is no regulation over protection of conception in the Copyright Law . . . language should not be monopolized by a certain person."

The idea that "language should not be monopolized" by individuals seems rather puzzling, for it seems to recognize at the same time that author's copyright should be respected while also suggesting that an author cannot reserve to himself the linguistic-templates which might be chosen to convey unique ideas and concepts.

Although imitation is a feature of most if not all rhetorical traditions, there are perhaps specific patterns of imitation identifiable from one tradition to another. There are specific ways of imitating in rhetorical traditions, such as the Chinese tradition of using a "plug-in" framework or model. The use of a model piece of writing as a template or as a framework for the construction of a "new" text has been recognized as a Chinese traditional rhetorical practice which might be seen as conflicting somewhat with Western views on writing.

Further study of the Guo case is needed to determine if there might have been a sort of linguistic template appropriation from Zhuang. This sort of appropriation has been observed in previous cases of plagiarism/derivation involving second language writers, for example the case of the Peking University scientists who plagiarized the language of a previously published article to report their own research results.

And the comment by the Beijing intermediate court that "language should not be monopolized" would seem to be a reference to a long-existing cultural tradition which allowed writers to make use of other author's linguistic utterances. It is quite possible that the Guo case is just another "run-of-the-mill" incident of plagiarism, but then again, further study might reveal some interesting cultural background to how derivation and plagiarism are viewed today in modern China.

From her teaching experience in China, Matalene (1985) introduced some of the traditional differences between Western and Chinese views on writing:

Western readers want the information that enables them to continue their own inquiries. And Western writers want careful credit for their own ideas, for their own unique inventions.

Since words are used for presenting ideas, the appropriation of words in the West is generally considered to be a violation of convention. Referencing is a convention used to avoid charges of plagiarism, resulting in part from the desire of Western writers to receive due credit for inventions and ideas which are expressed by word compositions.

In Chinese tradition, however--at least in times past--imitation is(was) perfectly acceptable, even if it means using the exact wording of another author. Imitation is encouraged, especially for beginning or developing writers, whereas the Western world would condemn the same imitation as plagiarism or academic dishonesty (Matalene 1985).

Consider the following paragraph entitled "Cultural Block" written by one of Matalene's students in explaining perceptions of imitation strategies:

After our teacher's explanation, we understand that in her country or some others plagiarism is forbidden. Whenever you want to quote a passage from an essay or article, you must be permitted by its author, or else you will be accused as a criminal. This is clearly made by their laws. However in our country, things are a little different. We may perhaps call what our teacher calls "plagiarism" as "imitation," which is sometimes encouraged, especially for a beginner. Imitation is usually considered to be one of the secrets for a greenhand in writing. So there are many printed books which consist of many kind of good models to follow for learners. I remember when I was in middle school, I wrote a Chinese composition by imitating several model writings which were suitable for my topic. I also employed some of the same words and phrases in them. I was praised by the teacher for this writing (803)

Imitation and memorisation of entire passages in Chinese literacy instruction is (was) encouraged and praised, and there seem to be specific patterns of imitation. This student has commented on the imitation of model writings suitable for a given topic.

Carson (1992) discusses the Chinese use of "plug-in templates" or frameworks which students may use in imitating a model piece of writing. Carson explains that "memorisation of texts is a good way for students to develop their writing abilities" and that traditional Chinese composition strategies included memorising model frameworks and text structures which other writers have used successfully. After adopting the appropriate model text's framework, the writer would substitute or "plug in" his/her own phrases and words to complete the composition.

Again, caution is needed before definitively stating that traditional Chinese rhetorical strategies might be a factor in the Guo plagiarism case, yet as suggested by the court, there seems to be a certain degree of latitude in an author's being able to make use of the language crafted by others, and this recognition of longstanding cultural tradition seems to be reflected in the Beijing court's statement that "language should not be monopolized by a certain person." And with Guo's being a university student-author, he might have been considered to be still a "greenhand", a beginning writer whose imitation might be viewed as being part of the developmental process. The court did side with the offended author Zhuang, so for whatever reason Guo decided to plagiarize, this case definitely represents a victory for authorship.

References

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Stephen King

Profile:

POPF/NF-1996-SK

Name:

Stephen King

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Green: Low Risk

Occupation:

Author of Horror Novels

Allegations:

Plagiarism in King's novel Desparation and stealing of ideas from Christine Starobin's unpublished book manuscript entitled "Blood Eternal"

Results:

King was acquitted by US District Judge David Hurd; public critique of King's work by the judge concluded the case, the astute literary criticism from a jurist's point of view not necessarily flattering the well known novel/screenplay author

Known for:

Horror novels and screenplays based on such novels

Overview:

When an adjunct professor at Ulster Community College took Stephen King to court for allegedly plagiarizing her manuscript "Blood Eternal", a somewhat humorous scene unfolded.

The judge didn't think that either King's novel Desperation or the plaintiff's book manuscript was a "particularly good read", but neither did he agree with the plaintiff's view that King had committed "literary rape".

Christina Starobin was subjected to scathing criticism from US District Judge David Hurd who found her allegations lacking the evidence needed to support her case, and he admonished her for "engag[ing] in a recurring and vitriolic attack upon the character and abilities of King."

King's literary reputation as a horror novelist has apparently survived both an accusation of literary rape in the form of plagiarism as well as a bit of jurisprudential literary criticism.

References

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David Leavitt

Profile:

POPF/NF-1995-DL

Name:

David Leavitt

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Occupation:

Professor of English at the University of Florida, Short Story Writer, Gay Fiction Author

Allegations:

Appropriation of a previous novel's content in the writing of the gay fiction novel While England Sleeps

Results:

Claimed that he would have acknowledged his debt to Stephen Spender but was advised not to by his publisher

Known for:

Short stories and gay fiction

Overview:

The career of David Leavitt has been overshadowed since 1995 by a plagiarism scandal involving While England Sleeps, a work which borrows heavily from Stephen Spender's autobiographical memoir World Within World (1951).

Leavitt claims that he was advised by Penguin Publishing not to credit Spender's work as a source of inspiration despite close parallels in the two books, gay sex scenes in Leavitt's derivative work aside.

He has continued to write a number of books and short stories, one of his most recent works, The Body of Jonah Boyd, having been critiqued by Jaspar Rees as a "stylish story about plagiarism by a writer once accused of the crime".

Another plagiarist turns the corner and puts his experience to profitable use!

References

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Henning Mankell

Profile:

POPF/NF-2004-HM

Name:

Henning Mankell

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Children's book author, playwright, novelist, crime writer

Allegations:

Plagiarism of plot elements from Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason

Results:

Indridason and Dutch publisher A.W. Bruna have opted against legal recourse; Mankell denies that he ever read Indridason's Grafarthogn [Murderhole]

Known for:

"[T]he true star of Scandinavian crime the world over", Mankell is famous for The Kurt Wallander Mysteries series which has sold over 10 million copies

Overview:

Swedish crime author Henning Mankell, known for his famous Kurt Wallander Mysteries, has been accused of plagiarism in the latest Inspector Wallander detective story.

The work in question is a book written especially for a Dutch market promotion, "Thriller Month", to which Mankell contributed Handelse om hosten [The Grave]. Critics allege that Menkell appropriated specific details and plot elements from Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason's Grafarthogn [Murderhole].

Both works feature loner detectives with depressive personalities. And both of these detectives find partly buried hands from WWII, a body next to currant bushes, and solve their cases through forcing the cooperation of an emigré's son.

Some readers have speculated that Indridason and his Dutch publisher A.W. Bruna have opted against legal recourse because of the difficulty in proving that one book's plot is based on/derived from another. Also influencing their decision not to seek damages might be the fact that Mankell's The Grave was a giveaway during the Dutch "Thriller Month". The absence of potential for a lucrative settlement is a powerful dis-incentive for legal action.

References

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Olaf Olafsson

Profile:

POPF/NF-2000-OO

Name:

Olaf Olafsson

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Occupation:

Novelist and Executive Vice-President of Time Warner Digital Media

Allegations:

Plagiarism of another author in his book The Journey Home

Results:

Inconsequential; Olafsson claimed he merely wanted to "pay tribute" to the other author by copying her work

Known for:

Business acumen in executive positions with Sony, Advanta, and Time-Warner

Overview:

Icelandic native and textual viking Olaf Olafsson apparently took his "tribute" just a bit too far in copying text from a work by M.F.K. Fisher.

In Olafsson's novel The Journey Home, the return of a woman to her home in Iceland is represented, both the physical and emotional aspects of the journey being recounted.

But in representing this journey, Olafsson appears to have appropriated language penned by the now deceased M.F.K. Fisher. As one observant reader noted in an Amazon.com review of Olafsson's novel:

"If you enjoy the prose of this book, you will no doubt enjoy the literary craftings of MFK Fisher as well. It is no cooincidence [sic]; passages from this text are lifted directly from the late Ms. Fisher's works, with no more than a name here or there altered to make it seem 'original.' Read the true original instead."

The Author, though now dead, returns to reclaim what rightfully belongs to her! The "sly and spectral" return of the Author continues! The textual Viking has been caught onshore, too far from his longboat to make a safe retreat with his plunder and booty.

References

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J.K. Rowling

Profile:

POPF/NF-2002-JKR

Name:

J.K. Rowling

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Green: Low Risk

Occupation:

Author of the Harry Potter series

Allegations:

Plagiarism of a US writer

Results:

Acquitted of all charges

Known for:

Developing the Harry Potter stories

Overview:

A US writer sued Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling claiming the British author had stolen ideas from her.

In her allegations, Nancy Stouffer claimed that her book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles was the source of inspiration for Rowling's Harry Potter. Stouffer pointed to terms such as "Muggles" and a character named Larry Potter featured in her book.

Yet it seems that Ms. Stouffer was doing a bit of textual manipulation of her own as the judge in the case found she had lied and fabricated evidence in support of her case. Ms. Stouffer was fined $30,000 by the District Court of the Southern District of New York, and J.K. Rowling has evidently been vindicated of the plagiarism allegations concocted by Nancy Stouffer.

References

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Frank Schätzing

Profile:

POPF/NF-2005-FS

Name:

Frank Schätzing

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Author; Also runs an advertising agency as well as a music production company

Allegations:

Unacknowledged, verbatim re-use of research reported by marine biologist Dr. Thomas Orthmann from the scientific website www.ozeane.de

Results:

A public apology and 15,000 euros in compensation have been requested by Dr. Orthmann

Known for:

Bestselling works of fiction; Cited as an author who has "saved the German thriller" (Harding, L. "Bestselling German author stung by plagiarism claim" The Guardian)

Overview:

Luke Harding reports from Berlin on the case of bestselling author Frank Schätzing who has been accused of plagiarism in the German press by marine biologist Dr. Thomas Orthmann ("Bestselling German author stung by plagiarism claim" The Guardian). Orthmann claims that Schätzing downloaded information for his new book, Der Schwarm [The Swarm], from the scientific website www.ozeane.de

Dr. Orthmann noticed the similarities between Schätzing's book and his own work after receiving a copy of Der Schwarm as a Christmas gift:

I began reading the book in January . . . At first I started thinking, 'This is uncanny. This is the kind of stuff I could have written'. After reading a couple of hundred pages it dawned on me that I had in fact written it . . . I can see how it can happen . . . There aren't many people to talk to in the evening. Instead you pour yourself a nice glass of wine, click a couple of times with the mouse, and download everything you need.

With sales of more than 700,000 in Germany, Schätzing's "gripping ecological thriller" about a revolt of undersea creatures against humanity just may be on the path toward lucrative financial agreements for the next Hollywood blockbuster ("German author Schätzing accused of plagiarism" Bibliofemme News).

For his part, Schätzing maintains that he consulted with dozens of scientists while writing his eco-thriller, and that the fundamental idea for the work was not stolen. Schätzing admits to collecting information from newspapers, magazines, and the Internet, and then reformulating such material for use in his books, and he does concede that "there are two or three sentences are similar" to the Internet sources which he used (a lower figure than the "dozens of passages" claimed by Dr. Orthmann). Yet Schätzing felt that the charges of plagiarism were "excessive" and that "I must be able to conduct such research as a novel author"("Frank Schätzing weist Plagiatvorwurf weit von sich").

Dr. Orthmann has indicated that he plans to take legal action if an apology from Schätzing is not forthcoming along with a 15,000 euros financial settlement. Schätzing is willing to add Orthmann to the acknowledgements section in the next edition of his book, but so far he seems unwilling to offer the apology and reimbursement sought by Orthmann, so it seems quite likely that the courts will have to decide this case of a bestselling author/advertising agent vs. a well known marine biologist.

End Profile POPF/NF-2005-FS

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Hajime Shinohara

Profile:

POPF/NF-2005-HS

Name:

Hajime Shinohara

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Award-winning Japanese writer

Allegations:

Plagiarism of a cartoon story by Maki Kusumoto for Shinohara's short story "10 Degrees Celsius Lolita"

Results:

"Readers pointed out the similarities between the two stories and the issue is generating considerable discussion over the Internet" (Mainichi Daily News)

Known for:

Successful Japanese woman writer whose novel Kaion, written when Shinohara was only 17, resulted in her winning the Bungakukai New Talent Award

Overview:

As reported in Japan's newspaper The Mainichi Daily News, successful writer Hajime Shinohara has been accused of lifting a story from cartoonist Maki Kusumoto ("Award-winning writer suspected of plagiarism").

As perceptive readers pointed out, it appears that Shinohara lifted ideas and content for her short story "19 Degrees Celsius Lolita" (published in Subaru magazine) from a cartoon story by Maki Kusumoto entitled "Chishiryo Doris".

The plot lines of both stories are strikingly similar, and details from both stories are the same--for example, both stories feature a "lead female character [who cuts] her hair off on impulse, make[s] several wigs and then attempt[s] suicide using scissors." Chunks of the language used to tell "19 Degrees Celsius Lolita" also appear to have been lifted.

As reported in the Mainichi Daily News, "Readers pointed out the similarities between the two stories and the issue is generating considerable discussion over the Internet."

Perceptive readers to the Author's defense once again!

References

End Profile POPF/NF-2005-HS

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Brad Vice

Profile:

POPF/NF-2005-BV

Name:

Brad Vice

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Professor of Creative Writing at Mississippi State University; "postmodern regionalist" author

Allegations:

Unacknowledged *intertextuality* comprising the use of Carl Carmer's verbatim description of a Ku Klux Klan rally in Vice's prize-winning book The Bear Bryant Funeral Train

The latest allegations come from Robert Clark Young who stated that "it is now possible to trace Vice's plagiarism from its genesis in his original documents. The pattern sketches itself out—plagiarism in manuscript form, plagiarism in a dissertation, plagiarism in a story appearing in the small magazine Five Points, plagiarism in a story in the Atlantic Monthly, plagiarism in a story reprinted in the anthology New Stories from the South, plagiarism in at least two stories reprinted in a book that is awarded the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction" ("A Charming Plagiarist: The Downfall of Brad Vice" New York Press)

Results:

Plagiarism discovered by Tuscaloosa Public Library's Margaret Butler; Public humiliation and revocation of Vice's Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction; "the covers will be ripped off and the text [of Vice's book] pulped, surely the most shameful outcome imaginable for any author" (Sledge, J. "Plagiarism Charges Pull Prize-Winner From Shelves"); An investigation has also been launched by Mississippi State University where Vice teaches as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

Known for:

Creative short stories as a "postmodern regionalist" with a focus on Alabama; Vice's book The Bear Bryant Funeral Train won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction

Overview:

Mississippi State University's Brad Vice won the prestigious Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction for his collection of short stories with a regional focus on Alabama. This collection of short stories, entitled The Bear Bryant Funeral Train, just may prove to be the undoing of Vice's career as a professor at MSU due to one story's verbatim borrowing from Carl Carmer's 1934 book Stars Fell on Alabama (Lake, R. "MSU Prof Accused of Plagiarism; Book Pulled").

MSU launched an investigation of the plagiarism allegations against Vice after a librarian with the Tuscaloosa Public Library discovered the *intertextuality*. It was the Tuscaloosa librarian Margaret Butler who first noticed that Vice had re-used, without acknowledgement, Carl Carmer's verbatim description of a Ku Klux Klan rally in his [Vice's] short story "Tuscaloosa Knights", a direct appropriation from Carmer's Stars Fell on Alabama.

The publisher of Vice's book, the University of Georgia Press, swiftly revoked Vice's Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and pulled the book from shelves and print runs (Sledge, J. "Plagiarism Charges Pull Prize-Winner From Shelves").

Vice's explanation of his composing strategy seems like a rather pathetic yet curious instance of postmodernist passing of the buck:

I thought I was paying homage to Carmer . . . As a writer, I consider myself a postmodern regionalist, that is, as an artist I have sought to marry the sense of Southern place and identity found in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner with postmodern novels of cultural information and fragmentation popularized by authors such as Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon (Sledge, J. "Plagiarism Charges Pull Prize-Winner From Shelves").

Come again? Paying homage? Has copying without acknowledgement become for such postmodernist *authors* the new mode of expressing indebtedness to sources of inspiration and influence?

Postmodern Writing 101 Course Description: Cutting and pasting fragments of various texts together as a composing technique will develop students' sense of "place" and "identity". Students will be encouraged to cut-n-paste on a prolific basis, skillfully employing the point-and-click, browse-n-surf capabilities needed to succeed in The Postmodern Age of Cut-n-Paste.

Another Perspective: In "The literary lynching of Brad Vice", Jason Sanford writes that "Brad Vice, one of the most talented new writers to appear in the last few years, has been given the shaft by his publisher for what appears to be an honest mistake. . . This brings me to what really infuriates me about this case: How Brad Vice was let down by the University of Georgia Press. Vice is a young writer who forgot [??] to acknowledge his story’s inspiration source. However, the University of Georgia Press has no excuse . . . The Press could have found other ways to fix this situation instead of simply revoking Vice's prize and destroying his book and reputation."

This just in: Robert Clark Young's legwork has discovered further instances of *intertextuality* in Brad Vice's work, an apparent confirmation of Norm Fruman's dictum that "Plagiarism is rarely a one-shot transgression". As Young reports in his excellent analysis including side-by-side textual comparisons,"[I]t is now possible to trace Vice's plagiarism from its genesis in his original documents. The pattern sketches itself out—plagiarism in manuscript form, plagiarism in a dissertation, plagiarism in a story appearing in the small magazine Five Points, plagiarism in a story in the Atlantic Monthly, plagiarism in a story reprinted in the anthology New Stories from the South, plagiarism in at least two stories reprinted in a book that is awarded the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction" ("A Charming Plagiarist: The Downfall of Brad Vice" New York Press).

Things don't look good at all for this young professor and postmodern regionalist, to say the very least: "Brad Vice has been or is being investigated now by three universities: U of Cincinnati, where he plagiarized in his dissertation; U of Georgia, whose press has ruled he is a plagiarist; and Mississippi State University, where he teaches" ("Further Plagiarism by Brad Vice." Robert Clark Young in email correspondence with Dr. Lesko).

Sanford of Story South responds: "New attack on Brad Vice is merely poor journalism". Coming to the defense of Vice, Jason Sanford of Story South hits back with allegations of his own, alleging that Robert Clark Young's " attack-dog article on Brad Vice’s supposed plagiarism . . . in a poorly regarded weekly newspaper [New York Press]" contains altered quotations to make the plagiarism charges against Vice seem more serious than they would be otherwise. Sanford and other writers have also suggested that Young might have an axe to grind with regard to the Sewanee Writers Conference, and used the Vice plagiarism allegations toward this end . . .

See also the interesting discussion going on at Scalzi.com where Karen Fitzsimmons speculates

The people defending Brad Vice must be his buddies. I can see no other explanation for trying to justify what is obvious and egregious plagiarism. There is also no evidence that Mr. Vice is a "postmodernist," in the William S. Burroughs or Kathy Acker tradition. Far from it, his book is comprised of realistic stories set in the south. It's only after the fact, now that he's been caught, he's claiming he did it as "homage."

He's toast.

Kudos to Robert Clark Young for calling it like it is: a guy who was given all the breaks and screwed everybody else by being a mere plagiarist.

End Profile POPF/NF-2005-BV

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Kaavya Viswanathan

Profile:

POPF/NF-2006-KV

Name:

Kaavya Viswanathan

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Harvard University Sophomore

Allegations:

Lifted language from other books used in Viswanathan's debut novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life (published by Little Brown); sources from which the Harvard student copied include Megan F. McCafferty's novels Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003),as well as the works of "chick-lit" author Sophie Kinsella (Madeleine Wickham), Salman Rushdie, and Meg Cabot (Holahan, C. "Teen loses book deal").

Results:

Recall of the derivative book and cancellation by Little Brown of plans to publish a sequel

Known for:

This bright ivy league student was relatively unknown until this plagiarism scandal; she subsequently appeared on talk shows to apologize and discuss her "internalization" of other authors' language and the"inadvertent" copying which had occurred; widespread media coverage catered to the public fascination with a case which seemed to represent little more than sophomoric un-originality by a debut novelist

Overview:

When Harvard sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan's book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life hit the shelves, the young author had already collected a tidy sum in the amount of $500,000 as an advance from her publisher, Little Brown. This has got to be one of highest prices ever paid for a customized cut-n-paste job of a novel. Something akin to the outrageous fees many college students fork over these days for the so-called "custom made" research papers offered by online "research services" enterprises.

And Viswanathan isn't the only author at an elite educational institution who has been solicited for a made-to-order text. Students at Oxford and Cambridge Universities are being offered wads of cash to "write" papers for these online "research services" outfits (£1000 a week for your essays), this after various media reports of Oxford (among other schools) struggling with widespread plagiary at the university level within their hallowed halls (Internet plagiarism 'is rife at Oxford'; Third of students admit to plagiarism ; Internet plagiarism rife at Oxford, says Don), not to mention instructors themselves getting busted for writing college papers in exchange for cash (Plagiarism ring busted at U of A).

The apparent plagiarism in Viswanathan's book has resulted in the book's being pulped. And her contract to write a sequel has been canceled by Little Brown. First to break this story was The Harvard Crimson with David Zhou's "Sophomore's New Book Contains Passages Strikingly Similar to 2001 Novel."

After these first plagiarism allegations were raised by the Crimson concerning Viswanathan's "internalization" (as the young author herself put it) of content and language from Megan F. McCafferty's novels Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Second Helpings (2003), other allegations shortly followed which accused Viswanathan of appropriating from other authors. These other sources of 'inspiration' for the Harvard sophomore include "chick-lit" author Sophie Kinsella (Madeleine Wickham), Salman Rushdie, and Meg Cabot (Holahan, C. "Teen loses book deal").

And the young author wasn't alone in fending off her accusers. Criticism of the book publisher, Little Brown, and the book 'packager', 17th Street Productions/Alloy Entertainment (a co-copyright holder with Viswanathan), has portrayed the "young girl [as being] pushed by the needs of a publishing machine and, no doubt, by her own ambition" (Rushdie, S. qtd by J. Lessware in "Rushdie enters row over yound author's 'plagiarism' "). And it has also been observed that the "Kaavya Case [is] Not [the] First Plagiarism Controversy for Opal Mehta Packager" (Shane Wilson, writing for the Harvard Independent). Her agent backed her client's "spongelike ability to take popular culture and incorporate it into [her] own lexicon"[!] (Chronicle News Blog).

For specific similarities between McCafferty's and Viswanathan's novels, these are posted online at publishersmarketplace.com for those interested in verifying for themselves just how closely the sophomoric composing of this novice author resembles passages from Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings.

In a Chronicle of Higher Education interview (via email) with Jerome Karabel (author of a book on "The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton") about How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life, Karabel responded in a "Fact or fiction" type format. Karabel wrote the scholarly perspective on admission and exclusion in the ivy leagues--Viswanathan's "chick lit" take on the same topic detailed Opal's plans to get into Harvard: HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard) was the first plan; when that failed due to her having no social life, the new plan her father came up with was HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life). Shortly after this interview, an editor's note was appended to the interview transcript: "How Kaavya Viswanathan Plagiarized, Got Published, and Got Caught" (Wasley, P.).

She got caught all right. She got caught, her book "packager" got caught once again too for aiding and abetting plagiarism--so it would seem. And her publisher got stuck with the damaged goods, piles and piles of de-shelved sophomoric drivel patched together by a novitiate writer fresh out of high school.

A new genre for what Steve Bloomfield and Andrew Gumbel ("The teenage plagiarist") call "not so much chick-lit as nick-lit"? Not necessarily. "Nick-lit", like one of the other oldest professions, has been around for quite a long time now.

References

End Profile

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Harriet Ziefert

Profile:

POPF/NF-2006-HZ

Name:

Harriet Ziefert

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Children's Author

Allegations:

Lifting ideas for the book A Snake Is Totally Tail from the 1983 book by Judi Barrett with the very same title

Results:

Book pulled from publication

Known for:

Publishing/authoring books for children

Overview:

Did Harriet Ziefert think she could get away with lifting a children's book title from 1983 by Judi Barrett? Or did she, as claimed, suffer from a case of subconscious influence? In her own words, Ziefert stated, "I have no recollection of ever seeing Ms. Barrett's book--though it would be foolish of me not to consider the possibility that I might have seen it decades ago and that its structure and some of its language imprinted somewhere on my subconscious" ("Kids book gets pulled").

The book A Snake is Totally Tale was supposed to have been published in early 2006 by Ziefert's own company, Blue Apple Books. But after reviewers began pointing out the similarities of this 'new' book with Judi Barrett's A Snake Is Totally Tale (1983), Ziefert's version of this story was pulled from publication.

It was a New York Public librarian, John Peters, who first posted his observation that "the basic idea, and somewhat more than half of the two texts, match exactly". And from a listserv posting, this embarassing revelation began to wreak havoc for the remake of A Snake Is Totally Tale. This case was either a sly appropriation of a 20 year old out-of-print book, or a children's lit author turned cryptomnesiac (Deahl, R. "Blue Apple to Cancel Book").

References

End Profile POPF/NF-2006-HZ