Week 7 Prompt
Reading this week’s articles, an author came to mind that affected me negatively. Her name was Sylvia Browne. Yes, that Sylvia Browne. The famous psychic. You see, when my father died in 2003, I was devasted. All I could think about is what was Heaven like? What is he doing up there? I wondered about the mythical aisle at my local Border’s bookstore and found the book Life on the Other Side by Browne. I devoured the book. Her writing brought me peace that my Father was living it up in Heaven. She even gave descriptions of what the buildings and gardens looked like there. From then on out, I was a devoted fan. I read every book that she published, including one where she gave predictions. She said that she would not die until she was well into her nineties. She died in 2013 at the age of seventy-seven. How could this world-renowned psychic get her own death wrong? This led me down an investigated path. Come to find out her ex-husband said she was a fraud. They planned to con people by pretending she had psychic powers. On the Montel Williams show where she was a guest, she told a mother that her daughter was dead. It was later found out that her daughter was alive, and she was being held captive. I trusted this author. I believed everything she wrote. I felt like my father died all over again. Is he truly safe in Heaven? I am disgusted that she took advantage of people like me who were grieving. Her book should have been promoted as fiction and not an autobiography of her psychic abilities.
Jennifer, that is really terrible and I'm sorry you went through that! I haven't ever had such a personal situation, but I did have a class read a book that I learned later had some plagiarized material in it. Not the same kind of deception, but still deception. I think we book lovers like to believe that books are a safe place and that we can read things that are true - especially printed books. I think we all know anyone can publish anything online, but surely printed material has been checked out? Apparently not.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about the plagiarism issue was that I could talk about it with my students and we could use it as an example of why plagiarism is bad. In your case, I guess you can tell people what you have learned and help them avoid this author. But I wish we could find some generalities that we could use - to know if an author is truthful or not. Perhaps certain publishing houses are more reliable than others. I don't know!
Jennifer, I'm so very sorry this happened to you! Before reading about all these literary controversies this week, I hadn't known about the prevalence of scandals. I found the article about the "Ethics of Authorship" perhaps most interesting. I did not know that some authors conceal their identities and/or lie about who they really are. You have presented a real-life, personal, example of this, and it has clearly affected you. It's probably a good reminder to us as readers to do our research on authors inasmuch as we can before consuming all their literature. You would think that publishers vet their authors thoroughly, but it's a money-making business, and no doubt the almighty dollar takes priority. (in any case, I'm sure your dad is in heaven and at peace!).
ReplyDeleteJennifer, it is awful that you were tricked like this. People like Sylvia preyed on people who were grieving or in difficult situations. The example you brought up the little girl that she said was dead was watching that episode. I think that scams like this are all too common and the onus should be on the publishers to try to mitigate harm when publishing things like Sylvia's book.
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