Finnish author Jaakko Mikkeli was accused by Norwegian author Kirsten

Question

Finnish author Jaakko Mikkeli was accused by Norwegian author Kirsten Halden of plagiarizing a book that she had written and that had been published 20 years before Mikkeli's. The two books, although set in different periods and regions, contain enough plot similarities to make coincidental resemblance unlikely. Mikkeli's defense rests on his argument that plagiarism was impossible in this case because Halden's book has been published only in Norwegian, a language Mikkeli does not understand, and because no reviews of Halden's book have ever been published.

The argument in Mikkeli's defense depends on the assumption that

(A) Mikkeli has never met Halden 
(B) Halden's book did not become popular in Norway
C) nobody related the plot of Halden's book in detail to Mikkeli before Mikkeli wrote his book 
(D) there is a common European myth to which both authors referred subconsciously in the books in question
(E) Mikkeli is not familiar with Old lcelandic, an extinct language related to an earlier form of Norwegian

aditya8062 · Answer

the answer has to be C :  nobody related the plot of Halden's book in detail to Mikkeli before Mikkeli wrote his book  -----------> MR JM is assuming that he has never ever seen or heard the plot of the book written by MISS KH . C hints at that assumption

always mention the source and the OA

soumyaranjandash · Answer

To the author and Admin,
I am follow each day gamt club for practice but i can see from last some days..people are not posting OA with the questions...so can you please set certain criteria so that it will be easier to know the answer right away or at least we can know that the question has no OA and need to be discussed. As questions with out OA are really not helping the cause.
Thank you

onedayill · Answer

C.

If somebody had explained the plot to Mikkeli before he wrote the book, then his defense will collapse.

celo700 · Answer

Mikkeli's defense: Plagiarism was impossible in this case. Why?

1. Halden's book has been published only in Norwegian, a language Mikkeli does not understand.
2. No reviews of Halden's book have ever been published. So Mikkeli does not even know that such a book exists.

Mikkeli thinks she listed all the reasons why the plagiarism was impossible. But if we can find any other possible reason which will lead us to believe that Plagiarism was indeed a possibility, then we can use that as an assumption because that would be the gap/weak link in the argument.

Even if Mikkeli has never met Halden there is a possibility that Mikkeli knew about the plot if Halden's book from some other source.

Probably Halden's book got popular in some other country where Mikkeli got to read the book.

This option says that nobody talked about/revealed the plot of Halden's book(probably unintentionally) to Mikkeli even before she ever started to write her own book and so there is no chance of Plagiarism.

Probably there is such a common European myth. But that would not explain why the plot is same?

Does not matter. Totally out of scope.

XyLan · Answer

For an answer choice to be an  assumption :  
 Negation  MUST   shatter  the conclusion DIRECTLY, not after further  MANY MORE  assumptions in  hindsight .

That's what E is doing:
(E) Mikkeli is not familiar with OI (  Old Icelandic  ), an extinct language related to an earlier form of Norwegian.
  !E  = Mikkeli is familiar with Old Icelandic(  Old Icelandic  ), an extinct language related to an earlier form of Norwegian.
It  CAN  play the role of a  Defender-Strengthener .

However , Even after Mikkeli's familiarity with OI, We CANNOT be certain that OI  is relatable  with the ACTUAL text format of Halden's book.
   - Might be the language in the earlier form of Norwegian is FAR different from that used in the ACTUAL text format of the Halden's book.   
Thus, Further assumption is required that OI  is relatable  with the ACTUAL text format of Halden's book.

We CAN  safely   discard  E.

unraveled · Answer

Finnish author Jaakko Mikkeli was accused by Norwegian author Kirsten Halden of plagiarizing a book that she had written and that had been published 20 years before Mikkeli's. The two books, although set in different periods and regions, contain enough plot similarities to make coincidental resemblance unlikely. Mikkeli's defense rests on his argument that plagiarism was impossible in this case because Halden's book has been published only in Norwegian, a language Mikkeli does not understand, and because no reviews of Halden's book have ever been published.

The argument in Mikkeli's defense depends on the assumption that

(A) Mikkeli has  never met  Halden - WRONG. Irrelevant.
(B) Halden's book  did not become popular  in Norway - WRONG. Popularity is not the question, whether Mikkeli understood it or not is the quesiton.
C) nobody related the plot of Halden's book in detail to Mikkeli before Mikkeli wrote his book - CORRECT. If there was one than Mikkeli's claim is questionable.
(D) there is a  common European myth to which both authors referred subconsciously  in the books in question - WRONG. Irrelevant.
(E) Mikkeli is  not familiar with Old lcelandic, an extinct language  related to an earlier form of Norwegian - WRONG. 2nd best but Mikkeli already said that he doesn't understand Norwegian so earlier form that is extinct in altogether is not a possibility.

Answer C.

Finnish author Jaakko Mikkeli was accused by Norwegian author Kirsten

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Finnish author Jaakko Mikkeli was accused by Norwegian author Kirsten

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