And yet more on plagiarism.

Apparently, I can’t get enough of it. A friend told me both about the Chinese version of Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Golden Dragon. The only mention of it I can find online is on the fan fiction site. And don’t even get me started on fan fiction…) and about a short story she read in school that was similar to Garfield’s Nine Lives. It’s everywhere, I tell you.

I had to refresh my memory, so I checked out the Colleen McCullough: A Critical Companion by Mary Jean DeMarr and reread the section on The Ladies of Missalonghi. Completely forgot that DeMarr writes the whole thing off as a “parody of the genre.” She claims that McCullough was merely making fun of the sentimental type of romance that L.M. Montgomery had written. That’s why there’s the relationship based on deceit, the odd character of Una who pushes the characters together and the wry, snappy humor throughout. I don’t know… Why wouldn’t McCullough just say it was a parody then and get the whole plagiarism thing out of the way?

It reminds me a little bit of an English class in high school when we were reading Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros”. One of my more brilliant friends made the observation that he had read that Ionesco was portraying fascism in the play. The teacher looked at him (not my favorite teacher, mind you) and said, “Do you really think it matters what the author was trying to say?” I was stunned. Blown away. I mean…doesn’t it? Shouldn’t that make all the difference in the world what the author was trying to say? What the intent was? Why else was he writing it if he didn’t have a purpose or a goal? The teacher’s argument was that what with all the subconscious and subtext and deconstructionist theory out there, the author really doesn’t  have a clue what he’s doing because he’s at the whim of his talent and creativity. Intent means nothing.

I still don’t agree with it. There’s something to be said for critical analysis. I can geek out on it as much as the next English major can. But as a writer, I also have to really give credit to what the author thought he was writing about, too. Because (and this goes back to my whole McCullough argument about plagiarism) if the author knew he was copying a story that someone else had written, wouldn’t he go out of his way to make it as original as possible so that he didn’t get caught? If J.K. Rowling did steal this idea, then she really did an excellent job of hiding it. There are very few similarities (and one of my new favorites is the claim that she stole the idea of having the wizards ride trains. Um. Yes. Right. Because no one rides trains in the UK…) and those that are there are very well disguised. (Again. If she did steal it.)

So I don’t buy it. I don’t buy DeMarr’s argument about the parody, nor do I buy my English teacher’s argument about author intent, and I especially don’t buy that Rowling plagiarized this guy.

J.K. Rowling and plagiarism?

Stuff like this drives me crazy… J.K. Rowling Adamantly Denies Plagiarism Charges

There aren’t that many ideas out there, people. Anyone ever read The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker? (Absolutely one of my favorite books, by the way…) And the fact that someone feels like they can sue a famous and wealthy writer is just SO absurd. Especially since part of the reason they’re doing it is because she’s famous and wealthy. You don’t see anyone accusing me of plagiarism, do you? Well. Not yet, anyway, right? RIGHT?!

I do, however, remember the first time I read The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. (Yes, that’s right, the author of The Thorn Birds.) The Ladies of Missalonghi is a completely different style of book for her–lighthearted, funny, and exactly the same plot as The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I had been a fan of L.M. Montgomery ever since I was in middle school and my best friend and I wished we were just like Anne and Emily. (Did not want to be like Rilla, however. Didn’t like her too much for some reason, and hated that she lisped at the end of Rilla of Ingleside. I understand why, I just didn’t like it very much.)

Anyway, The Blue Castle was one of my favorites. I think I still have it floating around on one of my bookshelves. When I got out of college and was working at a coffee shop, one of the neighborhood ladies (who has the most impressive collection of books in her library), recommended The Ladies of Missalonghi to me. Read it all in one sitting (it’s quite short) and I commented to her how similar the two books were. She thought the whole thing was ridiculous, but after doing some research and finding a book by Mary Jean Demarr called Colleen McCullough:  A Critical Companion, I discovered that there was drama and a whole lawsuit about it back when it was written. Colleen McCullough admitted that she must have read the book when she was little and forgotten it until she came up with her version of the story. Money paid, case closed. Well. I don’t remember if there was actual money paid, but I do think that McCullough claimed responsibility for “unintentional” plagiarism.

Much of the discussion online about this topic is fairly interesting.  Just as many people defend McCullough as writing your basic romance novel (using one of those seven plots, of course) and claiming that she could hardly be accused of plagiarizing something already plagiarized by the entire group of Harlequin authors. So she did nothing wrong, basically. Which…meh. I don’t know if I agree with that.

The other argument is that there are way too many detailed similarities. Both Valancey and Missy have to endure oatmeal every morning, and both Olive and Alicia are described as “keeping all their goods in the shop window.” (Of course, there is the interesting character of Una… Don’t quite know what to make of that.) But these details are what I think makes McCullough’s excuse hold up. Why would she use such details if she knew they were so similar? Why wouldn’t she deliberately change all of that if she knew she were stealing? And why the quirky Una? No, really. Someone please explain to me about Una. She makes the whole relationship deceptive and sneaky. At least Valancy honestly thought she was going to die. That’s even why she goes back home, so that Barney doesn’t think that she’s deliberately deceived him. Sigh… Did I mention how much I love that book?

Anyway. Plagiarism irritating and insulting, but usually unfounded, I think. If you’re clever enough to write a book, I would hope that you would be clever enough to avoid anything that would suggest that you stole the idea. Hell. I read a history book and get an idea for a scene/character/plot development. Is that plagiarism?

And to go back to those who are accusing J.K. Rowling? I checked out the website for the other author and his book. The publisher thought it was a fabulous idea, but told him he needed to rewrite and develop some of his themes and concepts a bit more. That’s right. The poor guy was supposed to work on his novel. Gasp! And he didn’t want to. He thought it was good enough. It is not. He’s provided excerpts (or his estate/heirs have) and… Well, yes. The writing is crap. And I mean nearly unreadable, a six-year-old-could-have-done-better crap.

I’m not even that fanatical about Rowling. I like her books and am really happy for her, but I guess I’m defending more the code of the writer…if there is such a thing. It’s not just the idea that makes you a writer. I mean, everyone wants to write the Great American Novel, right? And nearly everyone I talk to has a book idea. But not everyone works at writing it down. So those of you who have ideas and don’t want to work at it? Stop suing those who do.