Still More Noted
The fat lady sang yesterday for Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan. The author of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life is accused of having plagiarized from Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. We've heard everything from"the plagiarism occurred because of her photographic memory" to"she can't write, so it's the ghostwriter's fault." The Harvard Crimson and the New York Times report that Little Brown and Time Warner Books are withdrawing all editions of Viswanathan's book and that her London book tour is canceled. Let's see: her film contract with Dreamworks is, surely, dead; no certain word on her rumored $500 grand deal for a second book; and Harvard won't tell us about her future standing as a student because of federal law. Thanks to Nick Milne at A Gentle Fuss for the tip.
The New Republic carries two articles of note for Cliopatria's readers:
1) a piece by our colleague, KC Johnson,"Two Faculty Unions and Israel," TNR, 27 April, which is critical of the attitude of the AAUP and CUNY's faculty union toward Israel; and
Ryan Lizza,"George Allen's Race Problem," TNR, 27 April, which traces the neo-confederate history of the Virginia Senator who aspires to be president. Little of this is new to Virginia voters, but it may give the Republicans outside the commonwealth pause about his candidacy.
Both articles, alas, are subscriber only.
Congratulations to Melissa Haley, who won Common-Place's first Uncommon Voices prize for"Storm of Blows," Common-Place, January 2003. Her article about boxing and pugilists in late 19th century America was chosen from those published in Common-Place's first five years for its"striking literary merit."