Gone With the Wind – Malcolm's Round Table

Somehow, my wife got a copy of The Blue Bicycle in the mid-1980s, possibly from one of several people with whom she traded books, and it didn’t take long for her to discover that the book was similar to Gone With the Wind. Too similar, we thought.

The author was sued for plagiarism by American Trust Company Bank who represented the rights to the Margaret Mitchell novel. Deforges, a popular French author, lost the case and was ordered to pay $330,000 in damages. The book was a bestseller in France.

However, according to the New York Times, Deforges was cleared on appeal in 1990. The French “appeals court agreed that Miss Deforges’s book began with a character similar to Miss Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara. But it said the two novels then followed different paths.”

Deforges died in 2014. The book is still available on Amazon.

From the Publisher

“‘The little savage from Montillac’ is what her suave lover Francois calls Lea, the passionate heroine of this frankly lush, romantic novel of France during the war years 1939-1942. Daughter of a rich wine grower in Bordeaux, Lea sees her adored childhood sweetheart, Laurent, married to his cousin, namby-pamby Camille. Lea has lovers but never stops carrying the torch for Laurent, while tending pregnant Camille during Laurent’s service at the front, holding down the family estate of Montillac, where Germans are billeted, and cycling through occupied checkpoints with messages for the Resistance. Deforges, a bestselling writer in France, gives us moving scenes of civilian panic and carnage and glimpses of Paris high life enjoyed by collaborators and black-marketeers. Radio broadcasts by the still unknown de Gaulle, and defeatist Petainhead of the Vichy puppet regimefire French patriotism and keep the underground going. Plenty of entertainment here, and echoes of Gone with the Wind, though it’s hard to tell what lusty Lea sees in Laurent.”

I taught college-level communications law. By no means an expert, I do not agree with the appeals court’s decision because I think the material Deforges copied went beyond the scope of fair use.

–Malcolm

“Quercus Publishing has announced it will publish a fourth installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series.” – Quill & Quire

We often ask: “Why is Hollywood re-make happy?” Or, “Why are some writers sequel-to-a-dead-author’s books happy?”

Is it the money? Is it the vanity of stars and directors and authors who think they can do it better? Or, is it simply easier to tinker with something old rather than coming up with something new?

Perhaps, all of these. And then, there’s another matter I’ll mention in a moment.

As a writer, I cannot imagine finding any joy of creation by re-doing already successful screen plays or by adding sequels to an acclaimed author’s series. Perhaps as satire. “The Girl With No Tattoos Whatsoever.” – Now that, I would like.

Otherwise, I see the characters of a novel as being an extension of the original author. While it’s highly unlikely anyone will find new stories to tell about my fictional characters Robert Adams (“The Sun Singer”) or David Ward (“The Seeker”), I promise to haunt anyone who tries to do it. In fact, maybe I’ll hired a wizard too put a hex on the books.

The estate of Stieg Larsson has authorized David Lagercrantz to write a fourth novel in the Millennium series. Even if I spoke perfect Swedish, I wouldn’t line up to read any work that trades on the heritage of the dead.

Likewise, as the “Quill and Quire” article points out, Ian Flemming has been dead for 50 years, but a new James Bond novel called Solo came out this fall. While the Guardian says it’s better than some of the originals, it has as much to do with Flemming as many of the Bond films.

In September, Publishers Weekly announced that the Agatha Christie estate, has authorized Sophie Hannah to write a new Hercule Poirot. Poirot is famous for saying, “It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within–not without.” One might say the same thing about authors and fictional characters: that it’s better to create your own rather than use somebody else’s creations.

There was a lot of talk, especially here in Georgia, about why the Margaret Mitchell Estate authorized Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig in 2007. The first Gone With The Wind sequel, Scarlett (also auhorized) was written by Alexandra Ripley in 1991 and a lot of fans didn’t like it because it took Scarlett away from Atlanta and dodged all the questions fans might have about the character’s life after GWTW.

A Good Reason for the Sequels

Why such sequels? Many say that estates worry about the potentially expiring copyrights on original works and authorize sequels they can oversee before one of the vultures flying over the original author’s grave swoops in and writes his/her own version of the now-famous characters. What if Scarlett went out and got a dragon tattoo, for example. What if Rhett showed up in a Star Trek holodeck and said he always thought Scarlett should have married Ashley? The potential horrors are infinite.

I see the point in protecting the copyrights because there’s a lot of bad taste in the world and, sorry to say, some novelists and screenwriters are willing to disseminate it to make a buck. But otherwise, it seems like grave robbing.

—Malcolm

Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of “Emily’s Stories,” “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire,” and the heaven and hell fantasy “The Seeker.”

You can also find “The Seeker” e-book for 99 cents on Smashwords and OmniLit.

Malcolm's Round Table

Tag: Gone With the Wind

The bumpy ride of ‘The Blue Bicycle’ by Régine Deforges

From the Publisher

Bad News: Quercus to publish new title in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series