Most of you know all about Belle de Jour and how, from a blogger, she/he became a huge commercial success after being published by a big publishing house. For those of you who don’t, here are a couple of useful links:
This article suggest that Belle de Jour’s identity might be Lisa Hilton, a British author based in America
Wikipedia entry (not really that useful, but still)
Buy his/her book here here
Another article about Belle de Jour
Needless to say, the book sold a lot of copies. Controversy, sex and hidden identities. The recipe that always works. The big cliche. Regardless of whatever anyone would think, the big cliche actually pays.
With success comes a price: you get people that try to get it by copying you. And this leads me to the topic of the day. There’s a Romanian writer (supposedly) that copies EVERYTHING that Belle de Jour did, if you can believe it, it copied even the name! Sooo, let’s do some comparison:
England: Belle de Jour
Romania: Belle de Nuit
E: identity concealed but presumed to be a writer
R: identity concealed but presumed to be a writer
E: book title: “Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl”
R: book title: “Intimate Adventures of a Bucharest Call Girl”
The thing that bugs me the most is that nobody here in Romania told it as it is: a perfect copy. Instead of that they all engaged in fruitless discussions about who’s the author and what not. Maybe nobody cares about originality. Hell, maybe nobody here cares about literature…
February 16, 2007 at 12:46 pm |
Hai ca s-au mai pomenit de-astea, de la Misterele Parisului, Londrei, Bucurestiului etc. incoace
February 16, 2007 at 12:58 pm |
Yes, I’m aware of that, but still. It’s like everybody’s blind, everyone seems to be missing the main point. It’s not like there’s a dialogue between books or an homage or anything. It’s a “get rich quick scheme”. I don’t understand how come Ed. Trei published both books. Maybe they thought that the controversy will translate into sales figures.
February 16, 2007 at 2:11 pm |
spuneai “imoral” pe situl cu pricina…dar atunci imorale sunt si remakes si covers si parodiile? e mai complicata treaba
ceea ce mi se pare insa discutabil si poate nu foarte onest din partea editurii, este faptul de a folosi un nume atat de asemanator, e pe undeva ca si strategia pacalicioasa pe care o folosesc firme mediocre preluand un brand celebru la care modifica/ adauga doar o litera, mizand pe notorietatea originalului.
February 16, 2007 at 2:22 pm |
“you said “immoral” on that site …but then so are the remakes, covers and parodies? it’s more complicated than that”
I agree with you. The thing is that what they did is not a remake, parody or cover. It’s a deceitful strategy and a “rush for gold”. It’s not genuine nor is it spontaneus. It’s a fake. That’s why it’s immoral.
February 20, 2007 at 4:18 pm |
So I got a call today from a journalist asking me who I think Belle de Nuit is and why and if I have any proof. No, of course I don’t have any proof on what I believe to be the real author behind the book. The only way I (or anyone else who makes presumptions about it, for that matter) could have any kind of proof is if I a) wrote the book
b) saw the one that wrote it AS it wrote it
Neither of the two are true. So it’s fair to say that I have a suspicion towards who might have wrote it but that’s irrelevant. It doesn’t matter who wrote it. What matters is that the title and the author name resemble the original too closely. That, my friends, is what I consider to be immoral.