"Gone With The Wind" Goes To Court...
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A battle over the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind went to court Wednesday, with representatives of the late novelist's estate seeking to stop publication of a parody called "The Wind Done Gone."
Margaret Mitchell's estate contends that Alice Randall's novel, which is scheduled to be published in June, infringes on the copyright of "Gone With the Wind," and has sought an injunction.
But Randall's publishers, Houghton-Mifflin, backed by a slew of literary figures who have sprung to the defense of first-time novelist Randall, say the author has merely engaged in a time-tested literary exercise of parody.
U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell was holding a hearing in Atlanta Wednesday on the Mitchell estate's lawsuit seeking a bar on publication of "The Wind Done Gone."
Randall's work is written as the intimate diary of a mixed- race woman - who might be a half-sister of "Gone with the Wind's" Southern belle heroine Scarlett O'Hara - on a Georgia plantation after the Civil War.
Randall and her publisher argue that "The Wind Done Gone" simply revisits the world of a famous book and does not violate copyright law.
But an attorney for the Mitchell Trusts, Tom Selz, has told local media that Randall commits "wholesale theft of major characters from 'Gone with the Wind.'"
Mitchell's 1936 novel of a Southern plantation during and after the Civil War is known to many Americans through the wildly popular 1939 film starring Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable. Simon & Schuster published Alexandra Ripley's authorized sequel, "Scarlett," 10 years ago.
But the original novel's depiction of black slaves, a cheerful and supportive backdrop to the white protagonists' lives, is offensive to many African-Americans.
The publisher believes Randall's novel will appeal to African-American and other readers "who are troubled by the picture of the Antebellum South and Reconstruction portrayed in Margaret Mitchell's novel," Wendy Strothman, a Houghton-Mifflin executive vice president, said earlier this month.
She stressed the company was well aware of copyright laws but said Randall's work was not a retelling or a sequel, and that authors have the right to parody other work."We would not permit retellings, sequels, nor any other infringement of the copyrights of the valuable literary works we publish," Strothman said in an April 5 statement.
Randall, who is African-American, noted in a statement last month that African-Americans were once barred from reading and writing. "It saddens me and breaks my heart that there are those who would try to set up obstacles for a Black woman to tell her story, and the story of her people, with words in writing," she said.
Authors who have defended the novel include novelist Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Morrison filed a declaration with the Atlanta court on Monday, opposing efforts to block Randall's novel.
REUTERS/Variety
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A battle over the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind went to court Wednesday, with representatives of the late novelist's estate seeking to stop publication of a parody called "The Wind Done Gone."
Margaret Mitchell's estate contends that Alice Randall's novel, which is scheduled to be published in June, infringes on the copyright of "Gone With the Wind," and has sought an injunction.
But Randall's publishers, Houghton-Mifflin, backed by a slew of literary figures who have sprung to the defense of first-time novelist Randall, say the author has merely engaged in a time-tested literary exercise of parody.
U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell was holding a hearing in Atlanta Wednesday on the Mitchell estate's lawsuit seeking a bar on publication of "The Wind Done Gone."
Randall's work is written as the intimate diary of a mixed- race woman - who might be a half-sister of "Gone with the Wind's" Southern belle heroine Scarlett O'Hara - on a Georgia plantation after the Civil War.
Randall and her publisher argue that "The Wind Done Gone" simply revisits the world of a famous book and does not violate copyright law.
But an attorney for the Mitchell Trusts, Tom Selz, has told local media that Randall commits "wholesale theft of major characters from 'Gone with the Wind.'"
Mitchell's 1936 novel of a Southern plantation during and after the Civil War is known to many Americans through the wildly popular 1939 film starring Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable. Simon & Schuster published Alexandra Ripley's authorized sequel, "Scarlett," 10 years ago.
But the original novel's depiction of black slaves, a cheerful and supportive backdrop to the white protagonists' lives, is offensive to many African-Americans.
The publisher believes Randall's novel will appeal to African-American and other readers "who are troubled by the picture of the Antebellum South and Reconstruction portrayed in Margaret Mitchell's novel," Wendy Strothman, a Houghton-Mifflin executive vice president, said earlier this month.
She stressed the company was well aware of copyright laws but said Randall's work was not a retelling or a sequel, and that authors have the right to parody other work."We would not permit retellings, sequels, nor any other infringement of the copyrights of the valuable literary works we publish," Strothman said in an April 5 statement.
Randall, who is African-American, noted in a statement last month that African-Americans were once barred from reading and writing. "It saddens me and breaks my heart that there are those who would try to set up obstacles for a Black woman to tell her story, and the story of her people, with words in writing," she said.
Authors who have defended the novel include novelist Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Morrison filed a declaration with the Atlanta court on Monday, opposing efforts to block Randall's novel.
REUTERS/Variety
