Imagine: Author Makes Up Quotations

[BeccaPrice]

Another article from Shelf Awareness

Jonah Lehrer used a little too much imagination in writing Imagine: How Creativity Works, which was published in March: the book includes quotations attributed to Bob Dylan that Lehrer made up, were misquotations or combinations of other quotations, according to the New York Times. As a result, Lehrer has resigned as a staff writer at the New Yorker, and publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has taken the e-book version of Imagine off the market, has halted shipping of the printed version and (as noted in an ad below, left) is asking all accounts to stop selling the book and return all copies for full credit, with freight paid for by HMH.

New Yorker editor David Remnick spoke for many when he called it "a terrifically sad situation." Lehrer had recently apologized for recycling his earlier work in articles, blogs and Imagine.

Lehrer's creativity with Dylan's words was first outlined in an article in Tablet. Imagine has sold more than 200,000 copies.

[Catlady]

I can't understand how an author can possibly do this sort of thing and think he'll get away with it.

[taustin]

The Richard Castle novels, based on the TV show Castle, have endorsement quotes on the jacks that are, so far as I can tell, entirely fictional, by fictional authors and critics. But then, that's part of the joke. The only non-fictional thing in those books is the copyright notice (which is to ABC television).

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

Another article from Shelf Awareness

Takes a lot of chutzpah for the NYT to publish that about someone else.
No limits to human hubris I guess.

[Giggleton]

But did the quotes sound like something Bob Dylan would have said? When we get right down to it, should we really be caring about things like attribution of quotes?

Bob Dylan is merely a component of the whole, in other words, all words are everyone's. Funny that the guy had to resign in disgrace though...

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

But did the quotes sound like something Bob Dylan would have said? When we get right down to it, should we really be caring about things like attribution of quotes?

Bob Dylan is merely a component of the whole, in other words, all words are everyone's. Funny that the guy had to resign in disgrace though...

Honesty matters to most people.

[DrNefario]

"I'm really disappointed," Bob Dylan said.

[HappyMartin]

Apparently the game was up when people noticed that the quotes were complete sentences and we all know Bob Dylan doesn't.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

But did the quotes sound like something Bob Dylan would have said? When we get right down to it, should we really be caring about things like attribution of quotes?

Bob Dylan is merely a component of the whole, in other words, all words are everyone's. Funny that the guy had to resign in disgrace though...

We shouldn't care if we're lied to? Even if Bob Dylan is a "component of the whole", that in no way, shape or form implies that all words are everyone's. Either he said it or he didn't.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

Apparently the game was up when people noticed that the quotes were complete sentences and we all know Bob Dylan doesn't.

Your post made me think of this:

Troll quotes are image macros that consist of an image, a quote, and a recognized speaker, though none of the three match up to each other. The concept, as the meme name suggests, is to use such images to troll fandom boards for any of the three elements to get reactions to them.

[Catlady]

This article goes into greater detail about the falsifications.

[kennyc]

Just saw this here: http://www.theweek.co.uk/books/48238...g-dylan-quotes

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I can't understand how an author can possibly do this sort of thing and think he'll get away with it.

This is one more example of the major problem in American society today. You can try and blame it on "bad apples" all day long, but there is something rotten at the core that is responsible.

[kennyc]

From one of the links. I guess he had already gotten into trouble for "self-plagiarizing"

From The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/...ehrer/258840/#

[kennyc]

I actually feel a bit sad for him, I sort of understand how the pressure (along with his ethics) caused what I'm sure he thought of as a minor issue or creative writing turned into a major issue. This to me is the main danger in the Creative Non-Fiction world and as a writer it much be constantly considered and managed such that this sort of thing does not happen.