CAMBRIDGE, MASS- The notoriously catty literary world has come alive with schadenfreude since the discovery that much-lauded prodigy Kaavya Viswanathan had borrowed specific paragraphs from two Megan McCafferty stories in her debut novel. The ivory tower old guard have brought out the long knives for this one, skewering the 19-year-old's reputation and labeling her a plagiarist.

But ask anyone under 40, and they'll say what she did is a very common practice, not at all outside established legal or ethical boundaries. Viswanathan herself explained that she was merely "sampling" the offending passages, re-contextualizing them over a new rhetorical cadence. If anything, McCafferty should feel flattered.

Viswanathan's book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life is as much a watershed in Western literature as Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was for modern music more than two decades ago. Thanks to sampling, writers are no longer tied to the rather limited scope of their own TV-damaged imaginations. Young authors to are now free to revisit older tomes not read by young audiences since they were required reading in the 1950's

In this way, Viswanathan may have single-handedly revitalized classic literature. Unfortunately, the older generation of critics and authors don't seem to see it that way.

"I am the real deal, fools," said Viswanathan from her iced-out Harvard dorm room. "I landed a pub contract worth five hundred g's when I was still in high school. That's straight up ridiculous ballin'. You call up that dried up queen Tom Wolfe and ask him when was the last time he caused a publishing sensation with awkward coming-of-age tales for pre-teen girls. Never? I thought so. And Judy Blume can suck my [expletive deleted]."

Although Viswanathan deserves much of the credit for perfecting the technique, it should be noted that literary sampling has existed for quite some time. Kurt Vonnegut, for example, has been doing this to himself since the late 1970's, crafting new books entirely from snippets from his earlier, more popular works.

In recent interviews Viswanathan has been careful not to give too much away about her upcoming books, but she did drop a few hints: one having to do with an old man, a woman with Alzheimer's, & a notebook and another concerning crazy scavenger hunt throughout Europe looking for the secret lineage of Jesus Christ. She and her publisher are reportedly very excited.

Sampling is sampling; theft is theft; and a great read is a marvelous thing regardless of its origin. It is difficult to see how anyone living in a world with both hip hop and fan fiction could think otherwise. Still, outraged literati have put out the call for the feisty phenom to return her hefty advance in light of the controversy- or at least work out a royalty-sharing deal with McCafferty.

"You do not mess with my money," Viswanathan, a sinister scowl suddenly appearing on her face. "How do they expect to get it back? That pack of frumpy librarians gonna come here and try to take it from me? Yeah, I'd like to see that."

As it turns out, both Viswanathan and McCafferty are under the Crown/Three-Rivers label, so the financial end of things is more or less a wash.

All the same, McCafferty and others would be wise to let the issue die. The seemingly diminutive Viswanathan is not a person with which to be trifled. Cambridge police allege that Viswanathan shot a man last fall outside a local coffee shop. The victim in this case refused to press charges, saying that he probably deserved it after ending a sentence in a preposition during an open mic event.

"That's a note to all the suckers out there," said Viswanathan. "You better come correct with syntax [explative deleted] or I'll pop a dangling participle in your punk ass, you hear?"