Jeremy Duns says it isn't hardly original at all. In fact, he's found several passages that are pure plagiarism.
Publisher St. Martin's Press says it isn't plagiarized. Those passages that seem to be almost word for word? Coincidence.
Lenore Hart, author of The Raven's Bride, says she did extensive research and gave a list of sources to her publisher as proof. She also says she didn't read The Very Young Mrs. Poe by the late Cothburn O'Neal until after she'd submitted her final manuscript, so she couldn't possibly have lifted whole passages from Mr. O'Neal's book and put them into hers.
Except that Jeremy Duns, who outed plagiarist Q. R. Markham, has posted some matching copy on his blog and it's hard to suspend disbelief, so similar is the wording.
It's not just the prose, as Mr. Duns has pointed out. There are things that Mr. O'Neal made up that appear in Ms. Hart's novel, and fiction isn't exactly historically accurate research material.
Perhaps Mr. O'Neal's estate will make a fuss, and it's certainly possible that St. Martin's Press will pull The Raven's Bride from its catalog. The anguish of the literary community will fade, as it did in the wake of the phony memoir scandal that passed through a few years ago.
For the author struggling to land a literary agent or a publishing contract, it's another drop of bile to flavor the latest rejection letter for a manuscript of entirely original prose.
2 comments:
I'm actually a bit surprised that O'Neal's executors--whoever he/she/they may be--haven't emerged yet. Some months ago I contacted them (through a third party) about this matter, but if they have any reaction, I've yet to hear about it. I find it hard to believe they wouldn't be interested.
I can't imagine there'd be no interest in protecting intellectual property---unless the executors think that the cost of hiring an attorney and compiling sufficient evidence is prohibitive. Maybe there isn't enough to be had to make it worthwhile pursuing.
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