Brown is "astounded" by plagiarism suit; admits major role played by his wife...

... in researching and creating The Da Vinci Code. From this AP article:

In a witness statement released Monday as Brown took the stand, the writer said it was “absurd to suggest that I have organized and presented my novel in accordance with the same general principles” as the earlier book.

Responding to questions from the plaintiffs' attorney, Brown said much of the research for the book was done by his wife, Blythe. “She was deeply passionate about the sacred feminine,” Brown said.

Brown also admitted that Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the book that "brought the [Jesus and Mary Magdalene bloodline] story to mainstream attention," but insisted that he and his wife had not consulted it for research until after the ideas and storyline of The Da Vinci Code were “very well developed.” “All of my early research came from other sources,” he said. That could be true, of course, but it doesn't sound convincing in the least. If HBHG is the major work about the nonsensical bloodline "theory", and TDC ends up containing references to the book's title and authors, and the novel uses HBHG's phrasing and verbiage in several places, are we really to believe it was a late and minor part of Brown's "research"? C'mon — how gullible does Brown think people? Oh, that's right: so gullible that even high profile television journalists have been taken in by the Coded Con.

Brown's legal team once again apparently used the "many ideas found in HBHG do not appear in TDVC, so Brown didn't borrow anything from HBHG," which is like a thief saying, "Well, two of your three cars are still in your driveway so I clearly didn't take the missing one." And:

Under cross-examination, Brown acknowledged some uncertainty about the dates of events leading up to the March 18, 2003, publication of “The Da Vinci Code. In his statement, however, he said he was certain he and his wife had not consulted “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” for research until after the ideas and storyline of “The Da Vinci Code” were “very well developed.” ... Among the documents submitted to court were 39 books and more than 300 documents Brown said he consulted while writing “The Da Vinci Code.”

A partial list of those books, or at least a partial bibliography for TDVC, can be found at the bottom of this page. More about the tensions in the Coded Court Case can be found here.

Comments

[clive]

...And Dan Brown also said in evidence today that he couldn't possibly have used the HBHG book as the major source for his own TDVC because...
the ideas in HBHG were "too dense"; frankly I couldn't understand all of it and so I never finished reading the book"

Out of the mouths of babes and innocents....

[Carl Olson]

Clive: Is that an actual quote? If so, it's astounding. Was that in a print edition of a newspaper? I haven't seen anything like that in online reports.

[Sandra Miesel]

And he decided at the last minute to use names out of HBHG? Where else would he have heard about the Plantard and St. Clair familes as supposed carriers of the Sacred Bloodline? Or the lists of Priory members? The other side's lawyers must e awfully ineffectual.

[clive]

Carl, the quote was from the BBC Radio 4 1700 hrs News -"Today" - transmitted approx 17.40 London Time. Suggest, if you can get BBC Radio online, that you listen for the 2200 GMT News on Radio 4 - lasts 45 minutes and they ought to have an even better report of today's proceedings as they have had the time to digest and analyse.

I don't think 'Ineffectual'. I think Judge Smith will find for the plaintiffs.

In which case, it gets very interesting as he has already asked Counsel for the plaintiffs what they would have him do if he finds in their favour. Options included ordering the pulping of every single, unsold TDVC book in the world! And stopping distribution of Sony Corporation TDVC movie.

[Ed Peters]

clive's info is fascinating. rememebr, all good jusge HATE to make a decision. really. now, i'm uncomfortable when judges ask PPs what they have in mind should they win (and they rarely do it in jury trials), but it often is done at least in part to send a subtle message to the defense: a la, if you get a reasonable settlement offer, boys, take it.

[Michael Barber]

I love your analogy of the thief who didn't steal everything. Great post!

[Cristina A. Montes]

Dan Brown claims he didn't base his book on HBHG? Maybe he's right. After all, Dan Brown has always been known to be truthful :P

[Sandra Miesel]

Or as Brown's publisher said in the WSJ: "Dan Brown always does his homework."

[Carl Olson]

Or as Brown's publisher said in the WSJ: "Dan Brown always does his homework."

Except when his wife does it for him...

[Carl Olson]

Actually, it wasn't Brown's publisher. This from a Dec. 29, 2004 piece from CareerJournal.com:

Can Dan Brown be a brand name?

Much like the movie business, publishers are eager to build brand franchises. Among the most anticipated books along those lines is Dan Brown's next thriller, a novel about the Masons, to be published by Bertelsmann's Doubleday imprint. Suzanne Herz, associate publisher of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, says the target publishing date is sometime in 2005, but "there are no guarantees."

Retailers, meanwhile, are optimistic that the novel, which again will feature Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, hero of "The Da Vinci Code," will generate sales in related topics as well.

"The Da Vinci Code" spurred interest in religion and history books because it was well researched, says Bob Wietrak, chief merchant of Barnes & Noble Inc. "Dan Brown always does his homework."

Link: http://www.careerjournal.com/salaryhiring/industries/media/20041229-bandler.html

[clive]

From the London TIMES today, reporting on Monday, in Court:

in a fascinating 69-page witness statement released today at the High Court in London, where the American author is defending his worldwide bestseller against a charge that it lifts its key ideas from a speculative history published 20 years earlier, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

In the statement, Brown spends relatively little time denying the "astounding" claims of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh that he stole the "architecture" of their book. He does not even mention the book by name it until the 39th page of his statement and later states that he has still not read of all of it because he finds it "extremely detailed and hard to read".

It also looks like, if the case goes against him, that it will all be his wife, Blythes fault

"exciting ideas, urging me to read the material myself and find ways to work the ideas" into The Da Vinci Code, which has sold 29 million copies.

"He spoke of his wife, Blythe, his researcher, highlighting "exciting ideas, urging me to read the material myself and find ways to work the ideas" into The Da Vinci Code, which has sold 29 million copies.

"In particular she became passionate about the Church's suppression of women, and she lobbied hard to make it a primary theme of the novel."

Mr Brown added: "Somewhere during the research, and well before I started writing anything, I learned that Mary Magdalene was not in fact a prostitute, as I had been taught in Sunday school. This stunned me."

So there you have it, Mrs Brown has a thing for the 'sacred feminine'.

As we Cockneys say: "it wasn't me, Guv."

[Cristina A. Montes]

Another irony: Dan Brown writes a novel spouting radical feminist propaganda and claims it's well-researched, then, when accused of having copied the whole thing, he blames his wife.

[Carl Olson]

Clive: Many, many thanks! Cristina: LOL! How right you are...