Subject
Re: DN's Legal Challenge (fwd)
Date
Body
>From Jeff Edmunds <jhe@psulias.psu.edu>:
It would be unfair of me to say anything about Ms. Pera's book since I
haven't read it; it seems to me though that going after a novel, any novel,
no matter how good or bad, with lawyers and litigation is like removing dog
dirt from one's lawn with an anti-tank missle. Overkill, unless the intent
is less to remove the offending object than to draw attention to oneself.
Parodies, pastiches, satires, spin-offs, and rip-offs are as natural as
doggie doo. Some stink more than others. Ultimately, they all disappear,
picked up and discarded by fastidious neighbors, devoured or rolled in by
other animals, absorbed as fertilizer, or simply washed away by rain.
It would be unfair of me to say anything about Ms. Pera's book since I
haven't read it; it seems to me though that going after a novel, any novel,
no matter how good or bad, with lawyers and litigation is like removing dog
dirt from one's lawn with an anti-tank missle. Overkill, unless the intent
is less to remove the offending object than to draw attention to oneself.
Parodies, pastiches, satires, spin-offs, and rip-offs are as natural as
doggie doo. Some stink more than others. Ultimately, they all disappear,
picked up and discarded by fastidious neighbors, devoured or rolled in by
other animals, absorbed as fertilizer, or simply washed away by rain.