Issuing a Half-Apology Is Like Publishing a Half-Truth.
A statement from Random House/Doubleday (which also published the Da Vinci Code), said in part:
"The controversy over James Frey's A MILLION LITTLE PIECES has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn't matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them....."
"We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES."
Given that the same sort of author biographical fabrications and marketing of fiction as fact by Random House/Doubleday were key to its success, the apology and refunds to readers needs to be extended to Code.
Issuing a half-apology is like publishing a half-truth.
Further, it's clear that Frey is being made the fall guy, a way for the corporate types to throw a sacrificial offering to the masses and and distance itself from its own misconduct.
Dan Brown could end up in the same boiling pot if he continues to let RH pull his strings.
My previous offer to let Dan off the hook still stands.
"The controversy over James Frey's A MILLION LITTLE PIECES has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn't matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them....."
"We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES."
Given that the same sort of author biographical fabrications and marketing of fiction as fact by Random House/Doubleday were key to its success, the apology and refunds to readers needs to be extended to Code.
Issuing a half-apology is like publishing a half-truth.
Further, it's clear that Frey is being made the fall guy, a way for the corporate types to throw a sacrificial offering to the masses and and distance itself from its own misconduct.
Dan Brown could end up in the same boiling pot if he continues to let RH pull his strings.
My previous offer to let Dan off the hook still stands.
posted by Lewis Perdue at 8:38 AM
11 Comments:
After hearing all of the arguments everyone says it should be fiction and it would be OK. Brown writes fiction so as we've seen before we're back to the decptive FACT claim all over again. Stealing others creations notwithstanding.
Yes, that and the fact that Brown falsified his biography to make it seem as if he was an expert ... along with claims of extensive research.
Didn't work. http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/01/25/mclemee
That was a very good link ... one of the things that happens in an academic environment is that people with no creativity nor originality get mired in a concept called "intertextuality."
The plagiarism is real; intertextuality is just a load of horse manure.
That should have been "neither creativity nor originality"
http://markyork.blogspot.com/2006/01/da-vinci-code-fact-claim.html
I have two questions:
1) If RH is so damned sorry, why do they continue to print and market the book? They are adding a page or so of statements from the author which should just be titled 'List of Things I Lied About.'
2) If RH and everybody else who is involved are so damned sorry, why aren't they signing over all those nice big fat checks they're all receiving to the Southern Poverty Law Center or UNICEF or Tsunami relief - SOMETHING?
Intertextuality - don't get me started.
I think you can safely say they AREN'T sorry ... just sorry they got caught.
Gosh, Lew, ya think?
I've tried pointing the True Believers for DVC to the MANY documentaries on the History Channel and TLC, PBS pointing out the errors presented as 'fact' in Dan Brown's work of 'fiction'.
They don't want to hear it. I mean, they can disagree about the plagiarism thing, what constitutes substantial borrowing, etc., but there's no place to go with people who think of DVC as a religion. I'd probably end up pointing out to the same people that Men in Black is NOT a documentary. Or that aluminum foil on my head won't keep aliens from reading my thoughts.
My biggest issue right now is that the trial judge threw out my plagiarism lawsuit _in part_ because he filtered out as unprotectible "history" which I made up, which Dan copied, but which was not history at all ...
Having a judge get fact and fiction mixed up can be damaging to your writing career!
A trial. All I want is a trial.
Actually, what I'd REALLY like is for Dan, RH, their lawyers and the rest of the lying scoundrels to make their charitable donation, go away,n get lost and let honest people go about their business.
Thought you might enjoy seeing a photae I took just yesterday at Roslynn Chapel...see it on my current blog at http://followheartjournal.blogspot.com...
When I saw Perdue's comment about hourse manure on the blog here, I figured maybe you could use a good laugh...
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home