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I don't believe him - that no one recognized it. I'll bet that just about everyone recognized it and they gave him the form letter brushoff.
I can't think of any reason it would be in the company's best interest to call him on it. They have nothing invested in him and it's the easiest to simply walk away without an explanation.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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They mentioned that he assumed and it seemed a few people didn't recognize it. That's not the same thing at all.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I'm with Javert on this one--just because those who did not acknowledge his game sent a form letter doesn't mean they didn't recognize it. Which is exactly what a couple of the publishers said.
Although I much prefer the response of the one who said "check your copy of P&P, which no doubt resides in close proximity to your typewriter." (paraphrase from memory, not direct quote)
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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If I recieved a blatantly plaigarized copy of a famous book to be published, I would almost surely send back the standard rejection letter.
Giving special treatment (such a writing a special letter) to goofy people only fuels them.
MY first impression was that his guy was trying to discredit British publishing houses because they hadn't published his own book, but maybe that's just me being cynical. Still, the guy has no evidence that the publishers DIDN'T recognize Pride & Prejudice.
Posts: 930 | Registered: Dec 2006
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re: Jane Austen...i too think she's overrated. I have yet to read any of her books all the way through, except Persuasion, which I still didn't enjoy that much. However, I almost across-the-board enjoy the filmic adaptations of her works...so maybe i'm just missing something when I read them. *shrug*
Also, has anyone ever seen Emma Thompson's Golden Globe acceptance speech for her Sense and Sensibility screenplay? She wrote a send-up to Austen, penning the speech to resemble what Jane might have wrote were she alive today (or if we had the Golden Globes in the 19th century)
A cursory search and I can't find a link on YouTube...anyway, it's an extra on the Sense and Sensibility dvd, if anyone can get their hands on that...pretty amusing
Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002
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The thing is, I don't think proving Austen wouldn't get published today (and I agree, he did NOT prove that) would be an insult to Austen. Lots of great writers wouldn't get published today, and it doesn't diminish how great they are. Shakespeare wouldn't sell his plays today, not in iambic pentameter with English vernacular that his audience understood perfectly but we must use historical volumes to help figure out.
The plots would sell today, but they'd have to be written to appeal to today's audience. That's no slam on the Bard, or on Austen, just a fact. And again, does not diminish how wonderful they are, just reflects and understanding that times change and publishers look for different things.
[heresy]I daresay that in 100 years, no one would publish Harry Potter in the form we know today. Things will undoutedly be very different yet again.[/heresy]
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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