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OK, so I've been working on my dissertation in Creative Writing (stories, essentially) for the last God knows how many months. Thing is, everyone's work goes into an anthology which was published last week some time. The night before (the night before) I had to hand in my dissertation I was pretty shocked to find this nasty little number in my inbox:
Hi Whisky,
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but copies of the anthology have been available as of today, which is how I've gotten to read your story for the first time. You can imagine how intrigued I was to discover that one of your characters is named Surname--and how much more intriguing it is that throughout the entire process of publishing the anthology, you never thought it might be a common courtesy to run that particular name by me. Were this just a random story of yours, I wouldn't particularly care, but to use it in your contribution in an anthology that includes me, and my apparently irresistable surname, without at least checking for my input is at the very least unprofessional, and at the most impolite, along with a few other adjectives that don't particularly bear repeating. Needless to say, I will be expecting an apology from you the next time we cross paths.
Firstname Surname.
(Names changed to protect the ... well, hardly innocent, but you know what I mean)
I think that what ze is accusing me of - explicitly, unprofessionalism (implying that I should run all character names past my lawyers/colleagues every time I get anything published - hmm) and implicitly, defaming hir or taking a cheap and nasty shot at hir via a minor character in a short story - is pretty nasty, and it makes me queasy, angry and sad all at once to read or re-read the above because it's quite obvious how horrible a person the writer considers me to be.
Needless to say, the accuser's surname is a fairly common name that I didn't associate in the least with hir when I wrote the story, and the character in question is a different gender, age, nationality and profession. The character is, however, described as a "twat", which is probably at the root of hir paranoid reaction. In short, I am innocent.
I've emailed back very politely explaining that any association etc. was the farthest thing from my mind, and that I was shocked and saddened ze had reacted in the way ze has, no offence meant etc. (I should add for the record that we didn't get along very well, but it was more of a feeling than out in the open and no angry words or personal comments have been exchanged before).
And I suppose that ought to be the end of it. Although I am still very angry at the things ze implies about me, I find vendettas exhausting and nauseating.
Except.
This person is going to be at UEA for another four years, doing a doctorate. Ze's obviously ... well, over-sensitive to say the least. Academia is notoriously bitchy but this is really the first brush I've had with that kind of bile. What if ze imagines or initiates a feud with somebody else in which the innocent party is accused of anything similar (or plagiarism, or underhandedness of whatever) made to suffer or look bad, and there's no way to tell from the outside who's in the right? I guess I just don't think that ze should get away with making such sweeping and unfounded statements to me in the first place, let alone to anyone else. And you can bet your sweet ass ze'll manage to make hirself a few enemies (real or imagined) over the next four years. The poor bastards.
Basically I want the above to go on record in case ze pulls this shit with somebody else. But of course I could have done the sort of nasty, childish thing ze suggests - there's no way for me to have my brain scanned to show my intentions (or lack of them).
Will I just make myself look bad if I bring this to the attention of my tutor? Or will it be worth it, in the case of potential future issues this person may have and drag others into, to have some evidence of hir prior inappropriate behaviour? And how bad is it, after all? Read it through, imagine your name at the top, tell me what you feel. Am I overreacting?
(oh, and sorry for the immense length of this post. I've been brooding over this more than I realised, evidently) |
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