Reporter | Ye Qing
Editor | Huang Yue
Every Saturday, the "Cultural Weekly" summarizes the big and small things worth knowing about in the foreign literary and artistic circles, publishing circles, and bookstore industries in the past week. This week, we are focusing on topics such as Prince Harry’s memorandum, the copyright lawsuit for descendants of Doctor Zhivago, and the “Stop Oil” environmental protection organization.
Prince Harry memoir "The Alternative" will be published next year
According to Penguin Random House, Prince Harry in the UK will publish his memoir "The Alternative" (Spare, temporary translation) on January 10 next year. The publisher said the memoir would "immediately bring readers back to that famous scene from the 20th century": "Two young boys, two princes, walked behind their mother's coffin in the sad and horrified world."
Langdon's previous announcement stated that the book was originally scheduled to be released later this year, and in Harry's words, it was a "one-hand record of my life, both precise and completely true." However, industry insiders related to this book revealed in an interview with the " Times " that after the former Queen Elizabeth II of the UK passed away last month, Harry had repeatedly worried that the content in the book would have a bad impact.
"" New York Times " article pointed out that the publication time of "The Alternate" is a sensitive node for the British monarchy and the public. People are still adapting to the new king Charles II taking office, and their politics and economy are also extremely unstable. The crisis of living in the UK is deteriorating, former Prime Minister Leeds Tras resigned less than two months after taking office, and the new Prime Minister Rich Sunak is the youngest prime minister in 200 years.
The memoir was published at this time, which to some extent put Harry in a dilemma. The book's revelation of the royal family may hurt the monarchy and his relationship with his family, but if the publication date is continued to be postponed, it will have an impact on sales, and the publisher will find it difficult to recover the high costs - Penguin Random House reportedly signed a contract with Harry and his wife for three books for 36 million pounds (about 290 million yuan) - and it will also threaten the "rebellious prince" character he has established in recent years. The title of
book "Spare" has also sparked widespread discussion. People's magazine believes that the word represents the "selected person" corresponding to "heir" and implies self-deprecating, but some analysts believe that the title of the book wants to express the meaning of "forgiveness". Penguin Random House did not give a specific explanation in the announcement on the meaning of the book title.
"The Alternative" will be written by the American writer J R Moehringer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and will be released simultaneously worldwide in 16 languages. The audiobook version will be made by Harry himself.
"Stop Petroleum" environmental protection organization where the funds come from?
On October 27th local time, the masterpiece of Dutch painter Vermeer "High Girl with Pearl Earrings" became the latest "victim" of the environmental protests. An activist stuck himself on the frame of the painting, and the other poured a canned tomato on the former. Both of them have been arrested by the Dutch police.
In recent months, art galleries and famous paintings have often become the protagonists of environmental protests. The most famous one is that two members of the British environmental protection organization "Just Stop Oil" not long ago sprinkled canned tomatoes in the National Gallery of the UK .
"Stop Oil" claims to be "an alliance that works together to ensure that the British government stops issuing new licenses and licenses for fossil fuel exploration, exploitation and production". Anna Holland, one of the members, said in an interview with Australian Radio that the goal of famous paintings is to "attract attention."
Where does the funds for the "Stop Oil" activity come from? According to its members, part of the funding comes from public donations, but the bulk comes from the Climate Emergency Fund, which was established before the pandemic to provide funding for climate activists. According to Australian Broadcasting, the main donor of the Climate Emergency Fund is Aileen Getty, the daughter of oil tycoon , Paul Getty.
Irene responded in an interview, "I personally have no contact with those organizations in London. I provide funds to climate emergency funds, and they also provide funding to climate activists who protest in a non-violent, legal and civilized way." The reason for the investment is that Irene believes that "we are facing a widespread climate disaster." "If you accept this premise, then civilized protests don't look so crazy and extreme. This climate crisis requires a way to burn the boat and do everything."
"Doctor Zhivago" author's descendants lost the copyright lawsuit
In July this year, British writer Anna Pasternak summoned American writer Lara Prescott (Lara) in Lara, a British writer, in July this year, Prescott sued the London High Court on the grounds that many plots in the latter's novel "Hot Secrets We Kept" were copied from her documentary "Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago".
Anna is the great-granddaughter of Paul Pasternak, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the writer of Russian . In 2016, she published the book "Laura" and tells the story behind Laura's role in "Doctor Zhivago" by her great-grandfather's masterpiece: Laura's prototype is Olga Ivinskaya, Pasternak's lover, who is also Pasternak's literary muse. Anna searches and visits Irina, the daughter of Irina.
It is no coincidence that American writer Laura is a communicative name with the central figure of this case, namely Pasternak's painting. Her parents gave her this name because they read "Doctor Zhivago". Laura and Penguin Random House signed two contracts for $2.5 million (about 18 million yuan). "Our Secret" is one of them. It was published in 2019 and tells how the CIA secretly smuggled the book into the Soviet Union as a propaganda tool after the former Soviet government listed "Doctor Zhivago" as a banned book.
Recently, London High Court judge Edwin (Edwin) Johnson ruled that the plagiarism charges in the case were not established, and he said in his statement, "It is obvious that the corresponding chapters in the defendant's Secret were not plagiarized from events or anything else in Laura. The fundamental reason for this judgment is that these are two completely different works."
Johnson added, "Laura is a non-fiction historical documentary work, and the plaintiff emphasized in his testimony that the book uses the description. It is her purpose to read a novel that is easier to read. However, this book is not a novel, but it describes real events. "Secret" is a historical fictional work, based on real events, but these real events were woven into the novel by the defendant and adapted according to the plot needs. "
Johnson said that Anna filed accusations of plagiarism without reading Laura's works, which was very "surprising". After learning the news of the victory, Laura said, "I am very happy to have my innocence." "The most important thing is that this judgment affirms my artistic ethics in searching, writing and editing novels over the years."
Reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/25/descendant-doctor-zhivago-author-loses-copyright-case-boris-pasternak-anna
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/03/dr-zhivagos-heroine-takes-centre-stage-in-plagiarism-row
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/prince-harry-memoir-spare-confirmed-for-10th-january
h ttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-28/why-are-activists-throwing-food-on-art/101589870
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/arts/pearl-earring-vermeer-climate-activists.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/1/1 0/26/books/prince-harry-memoir.htmlhtml
https://people.com/royals/prince-harry-memoir-spare-inside-title-meaning/
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/prince-harry-memoir-spare-confirmed-for-10th-january
