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Hersey Apologizes to a Writer Over an Article on Agee

Hersey Apologizes to a Writer Over an Article on Agee
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July 22, 1988, Section B, Page 1Buy Reprints
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John Hersey, one of the best known and respected writers in the United States, offered his apologies to another writer yesterday and said he would attempt to give ''direct credit'' to a book from which, he acknowledged, he had appropriated numerous facts and phrases without attribution in a recent article in The New Yorker magazine.

Laurence Bergreen, the author of the biography ''James Agee: A Life,'' had instructed his lawyer to complain to The New Yorker and Houghton Mifflin, which plans to republish the essay in the fall, that Mr. Hersey's article in the July 18 issue of the magazine ''amounted to a condensation of my biography,'' including ''about 20 specific examples of copyright infringement.''

Mr. Bergreen's book, a biography of Agee, the critic, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, journalist and screenwriter, was published in 1984. Agee died in 1955.

In a telephone interview from his Massachusetts home at Martha's Vineyard, Mr. Hersey said: ''I make a distinction between credit for the facts, which are public property and don't belong to anyone, and the expressions of a writer. which are another matter entirely. Where I quoted directly, I gave credit. But since Mr. Bergreen's biography is the most comprehensive so far published, I should have given him some direct credit, and that I will now do.''

Asked how he erred in this instance, Mr. Hersey said: ''I don't think that I deeply have. I'm very sorry if I've offended Mr. Bergreen. I don't believe my real offense in terms of normal practice is great. There's always a fine line between facts and the work of another writer. Crediting sources is harder in a magazine than a book, in which you have a bibliography.''

He added, ''I think probably I should have given Laurence Bergreen and other sources more credit.''

Mr. Hersey said he would not specify the precise form of correction he intended to make, ''since lawyers are involved and they are in the process of conveying this to Mr. Bergreen.''

Mr. Bergreen said he became ''greatly disturbed'' when he read Mr. Hersey's essay in The New Yorker and discovered ''the use of words and lengthy passages that were taken almost verbatim from my book.''

''It seemed to me,'' he said, ''that once you got beyond the opening anecdote in which he described his meeting with Agee that the whole article was a condensation of my biography.'' Parallel Passages

Mr. Bergreen said he noted ''about 20'' parallel passages such as these:

Mr. Hersey described a trip Agee and his wife-to-be, Alma, made in these words: ''On the way north again, they stopped in Alabama to see the Burroughses, who welcomed Jim ecstatically. He introduced Alma as his wife. They ate dinner, and he felt that he was with his own family; Alma went outside and vomited what she had eaten. After the meal, they all sang a hymn together, and Agee and Alma left. This time, it was true that he would never return - though it was also true that he would never again be wholly his best self anywhere else.''

In his biography, Mr. Bergreen had described the same scene as follows: ''Floyd and Allie Mae were 'amazed and happy' to see Agee, who introduced Alma to all as his wife. . . . They stayed for supper, Agee stuffing himself as he had before, while Alma went outside and vomited what she had eaten. Although Floyd implored his guests to stay the night, Agee knew Alma could not tolerate the vermin-infested bedding and reluctantly turned down the offer. After the meal, Agee, Alma and the family sang a hymn of praise and it was time to go. Agee knew he would never see the family again.'' Another Passage

In another passage in The New Yorker article, Mr. Hersey described a scene after the marriage of James and Alma in these words: ''One day, Alma pretended that Jim was a poodle, and tied a blue ribbon in his hair. Some church ladies came to call, and Jim the poodle dressed for showing went to the door and let them in.''

In his biography, Mr. Bergreen had written: ''Alma once tied a blue ribbon in Agee's hair, as if he were a poodle. Forgetting the bow was in place, he opened the door to converse with a delegtaion of church ladies who had come a-calling.''

Mr. Bergreen said he felt sure that Mr. Hersey was aware of the biography because he had once interviewed Mr. Hersey for it. ''Then,'' he said, ''when I learned that the article was to be reprinted in the fall by Houghton Mifflin, and realized that the infringement would happen not once but twice, I felt this was a very serious problem and contacted my lawyer.''

Houghton Mifflin plans to reprint Mr. Hersey's essay as the preface to a new edition of James Agee's ''Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.'' Asked for Apology

Mr. Bergreen's lawyer wrote to The New Yorker asking for a published apology, and to Houghton Mifflin asking that the article not be published in its present form. Meanwhile, Mr. Bergreen granted interviews to The Village Voice and New York magazine.

Houghton Mifflin, Mr. Bergreen said, responded that Mr. Hersey planned to revise the article and would credit Mr. Bergreen's book ''several times.'' Mr. Bergreen said: ''In the absence of specifics, I don't know if that would be sufficient.''

Asked for comment, Joseph Cooper, the editorial counsel for The New Yorker, referred the request to Rhonda Pinzer, the public relations director of The New Yorker. She said, ''A statement is under consideration which may appear in Monday's issue of the magazine.'' Insertions in Essay

Barbara Williams, counsel for Houghton Mifflin, said: ''I wrote to Mr. Bergreen's lawyer, stating that Mr. Hersey would make insertions in his essay several times citing the biography, and I have offered to discuss the matter with them. I did not intend to send them specific copy. I'm waiting to hear from them.''

Mr. Hersey is the author of numerous articles and more than 20 books, including the novel ''A Bell for Adano,'' which won the Pulizer Prize for fiction in 1945; ''Hiroshima,'' a journalistic tour de force that filled an entire issue of The New Yorker in 1946; ''The Wall,'' a novelistic study of Poland under the Nazis; ''The War Lover''; ''The Child Buyer''; ''The Algiers Motel Incident'' and ''The Walnut Door.''

Mr. Bergreen is the author of ''Look Now, Pay Later: The Rise of Network Broadcasting,'' published in 1980, and is working on a biography of Irving Berlin.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: Hersey Apologizes to a Writer Over an Article on Agee. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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