Yet another plagiarism case has popped up, this time concerning uncanny similarities between Lenore Hart’s 2011 novel The Raven’s Bride and Cothburn O’Neal’s 1956 novel The Very Young Mrs. Poe. Both novels deal with Virginia Clemm, cousin and teenaged bride of Edgar Allan Poe.
The blog The World of Edgar Allan Poe broke the story and also offers examples here.
Suspense writer Jeremy Duns, whom we already know from the Q.R. Markham plagiarism affair, weighs in here with further examples and quotes from a apologia by Ms. Hart.
The Guardian also reports on the case and on Ms. Hart’s explanations that she and Cothburn O’Neal both used the same sources. This sort of thing can indeed happen to writers of historical fiction. For example, I based the garrotting scene in El Carnicero on an eye witness account of a garrotting by American journalist Richard Ford in his Gatherings from Spain. Some time later, I read the 1951 novel Goya oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis (English title: This is the Hour) by German historical novelist Lion Feuchtwanger and came across a very familiar garrotting scene. Yes, it turned out that Feuchtwanger had used the same eye witness account as source material (not surprising, since there aren’t a whole lot of eye witness accounts of garrottings and even fewer in English). However, there is a difference here, because I did not copy Richard Ford’s account verbatim and neither did Feuchtwanger. Because even if two writers of historical fiction copy verbatim from the same source independently from each other, it’s still plagiarism.
Alas, her publisher seems to accept Ms. Hart’s explanations, because they are standing by her according to this New York Times report.
Meanwhile, arch-plagiarist Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg has a new job as the EU adviser on internet freedom of all things. Now Guttenberg or rather his ghostwriter certainly knows how to use the Internet to write doctoral dissertations.
However, let’s not forget that Guttenberg also promoted a highly controversial bill regarding the federally mandated blocking of websites. Supposedly, the blocks were only intended to target child porn websites (Mr zu Guttenberg’s wife is an anti-child-porn activist), but internet activists suspected that child porn was just a way of getting public approval for the bill (for who could argue against initiatives against child porn?) and that the real target were torrent websites and in the long run any website disliked by the German government. So making someone who pushed and backed what was essentially an internet censorship bill the EU advisor on internet freedom would be pretty rich, even if he wasn’t a plagiarist. Particularly since Guttenberg accused everybody opposed to the bill of defending child porn back in the day.
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The second news is the more apalling one to me. Reminds me of the bullshit of trying to make Edmund Stoiber be efficiency advisor to the EU. How come they get all those cushy jobs without credentials or being elected into it. Does German run the EU by now? I thought that was a myth myself, as inefficient as our government is in Germany itself.
Also, I thought this discussion about PR/UF fan behaviour compared to contemporary romance behaviour quite interesting – especially because my own UF/PR reading is not along those lines
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/paranormal-vs-contemporary-fans
Thanks for the link, which I hadn’t seen yet.
I have heard stories about the rabid nature of certain paranormal fans, though I’m not sure if it’s really related to SFF fandom, since the vast majority of SFF fandom would prefer it if paranormal romance and urban fantasy didn’t exist.
I have read some of the anguished supernatural fratboys of doom books for research reasons, but I must confess that I vastly prefer different series with less supernatural fratboydom.
I sometimes think that Germany (and other countries as well) views the EU as a dumping ground for dismissed or disgraced politicians. We had Stoiber and Günther Oettinger (who actually is EU commissioner on energy issues or some such thing) and also one of the Kohl era ministers. And now Guttenberg. I don’t want to imagine what a politician would have to do not to qualify for an EU office.
“a dumping ground for dismissed or disgraced politicians”
Considering that a lot of EU laws now supersede the national laws I find that tendency frightening.
It becomes even more frightening, if other countries started doing or already are doing the same. Berlusconi anyone?
funfunfun…
I remember that the UK is doing the same. I vaguely remember one woman who became European somewhat after she had to resign her office after the expenses scandal some years ago…
I suspect that all EU countries do it to some degree, only that we don’t know of the other disgraced politicians, unless the scandals were big enough to go global.
GAH! *averts eyes*