Writers
and Mistakes by Warren Bull
Image by Daniela Holzer on Upsplash
Image by Daniela Holzer on Upsplash
To
be human is to err. Authors are people too. Yes, we are.
When
Naomi Wolf appeared on the BBC to promote her forthcoming book, Outrages: Sex, Censorship and the
Criminalization of Love, the interviewer, journalist Matthew Sweet pointed out two serious problems
with her work. First, she assumed “sodomy” meant homosexuality, but in one key
case in her book, it referred to child sexual abuse. Second, part of her book
was based on a source that turned
out to be inaccurate, she wrote the 19th-century legal term “death recorded”
meant the convict was executed, but it actually meant a death sentence wasn’t
carried out because the prisoner was pardoned and freed. “I don’t think any of
the executions you’ve identified here actually happened,” said Sweet.
After
verifying Sweet’s observations, Wolf admitted her errors. On Twitter, she said
her research had not been thorough enough. Wolf said she is making corrections
and thanked the interviewer. “My thanks to you is substantial” [the records]“deserve
to be poured over.”
For additional information see:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/naomi-wolf-realizes-theres-a-massive-mistake-in-her-book-live-on-radio
I
was reminded of what happened when Lynne Mc Taggart contacted Doris Kearns
Goodwin and pointed out that sections of The
Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, published in 1987 were taken directly from Mc
Taggart’s Kathleen Kennedy: Her Life and
Times.
Goodwin
admitted her errors. Although she had made some references to Mc Taggart’s
book, Goodwin had quoted directly from Her
Life and Times without indicating the material used was a quotation. In
other instances, Goodwin did not sufficiently reference her use of content from Her Life and Times. The author voluntarily
stepped down from being a Pulitzer Prize judge and gave up her position as a
commentator on the television show New
Hour. The publisher pulverized paperback editions of the book. Goodwin made
corrections in later editions of the book. Goodwin and Mc Taggart reached a
settlement acceptable to both writers. Goodwin changed the way she did research
taking more care to be careful of her use of source material.
For
additional information see:
Wolf
has not been accused of making similar mistakes in her other books. Goodwin has
not been accused of plagiarism since 1987.
Goodwin
was roundly criticized. I expect Wolf will be too.
My point
is that authors can and do make mistakes. We try our best to be as accurate as
possible, but errors creep in. To my mind what these two authors demonstrate is
that admitting our errors, correcting them as much as we can, and making amends
is the best way to act when we make mistakes.
I
realize that something like this could happen to me. If it does I hope my
response is as honest as graceful as Wolf and Goodwin’s.
Well said.
ReplyDeleteGood points, Warren. I've learned from reading about these authors' experiences that when taking notes to clearly mark what I've taken from a source and what I wrote as a result of my research. Using someone's exact words can so easily happen if we don't mark our notes properly, especially if time has elapsed from the time we take notes and when we refer to them again.
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