What happens when someone decides to test the publishing world’s knowledge of a classic?
Well, according to these articles we found on Yahoo and the BBC site, the industry fails miserably when Jane Austen’s work gets described by Penguin (who reprinted one of her novels, in question, just last year) as an “original and interesting read.”
Well, sure, her body of work is interesting and even considered original (though published first in the early 1800’s), but why didn’t today’s notable publishing houses recognize it as blatant plagiarism?
And who, of all people, was plagiarizing Ms. Austen? None other than the head of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, David Lassman.
One might wonder why Mr. Lassman submit these classic manuscripts to 18 editors, on the guise of obtaining a publishing deal. Well, as a bit of a test… to see how the work would stand up in today’s marketplace.
Yet, even he was surprised to find out that only one publishing house caught the obvious piracy of such famous works as “Pride and Prejudice“, “Persuasion” and “Northanger Abbey“.
Using only slightly disguised versions of Jane Austen’s work, he submitted sample chapters, which included the following opening line of Pride and Prejudice in its entirety:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
Why did only one publisher spot the fakes?
What do you think? Post a comment below and let us know…
1 Comment
August 30, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Yikes! This is appalling! That first line is as famous as “Call me Ishmael,” don’t you think? I know that a lot of otherwise smart people don’t read, but shouldn’t publishers be required to be literate?