[Intellivision]

Many are familiar already with the James Frey scandal concerning the embellishments present in his "memoir" A Million Little Pieces which was first exposed by the The Smoking Gun blog. His subsequent appearances on Larry King Live, Oprah, & the spoof of the incident in the "A Million Little Fibers" South Park episode have made him nearly a household name.

News of charges of plagiarism are now being levelled against Dan Brown, the author of the megaseller, the Da Vinci Code, and are just now beginning to appear in the mass media based on an upcoming article in the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine by contributing editor Seth Mnookin.

The piece alleges that there are too many parallels between Brown's book and Lewis Perdue's Daughter of God novel from 2000.

The story just broke today.

Boston Herald June, 7, 2006

Mnookin also cites a passage in “The Da Vinci Code” that is exactly the same as a passage from the paper “Leonardo’s Lost Robot,” written by robotics expert Mark Rosheim. Brown’s publisher, Doubleday, said it was covered under fair use.

"This is the most blatant example of in-your-face plagiarism I’ve ever seen. It just goes on and on. There are literally hundreds of parallels (to Perdue's book),” (says) John Olsson, the director of Britain’s Forensic Linguistics Institute.

Perhaps pun-worthy is that Dan Brown's novel previous to his blockbuster was the 2001 book, Deception Point.

The thing is, there can be little doubt that both Perdue's book and Brown's borrowed rather heavily from Holy Blood, Holy Grail which was first a BBC documentary and then a successful book published way back in 1987 by BBC correspondents...

from wikipedia

...Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, which was based in large part on Pierre Plantard's Priory of Sion hoax. There was a sequel to the book called The Messianic Legacy, in 1987.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Blood,_Holy_Grail

These '80s books were even classified as non-fiction. Although the tomes do rely more on documented research, many agree that they are still a hodge podge of half-truth and conjecture at very best.

from wikipedia

The claims made in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail have been the source of much investigation and criticism over the years, with many independent investigators such as 60 minutes, Time magazine, and (even) the BBC (itself) claiming the book's claims are not credible or verifiable.

Burns, Alex. (2000) Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Disinfo
Mondschein, Ken. (2004) Holy Blood, Holy Grail. New York Press
Mader, Eric. (2005) "At First We Were Skeptical": The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
Miller, Laura. (2004) The Da Vinci crock. salon.com
Telegraph editors. (2004) Da Vinci Code bestseller is plagiarism, authors claim. The Daily Telegraph
Simon Raikes. (2005) The Real Da Vinci Code. Channel 4 .

But back to the poll question:

Who is the worse literary fraud, bestseller James Frey, or neo-pop icon Dan Brown?

[Everyneurotic]

who gives a shit about da retarded-ini code?

[alyasa]

Exactly. Haven't you guys played Deus Ex?

[Intellivision]

It's just a poll. One that debates basically whether embellishment in a "memoir" is worse or not than plagiarism and copy-catting.

The subject matter relative to each of the author's "work" may also feasibly play an interesting role in determining one's vote.

[alyasa]

For one thing, the subject matter in both are completely unrelated to each other, though they both are guilty of the same crime of dishonesty, of presenting something as truth when it is otherwise. In this case however, both have valid points somewhat in that James Frey could always argue artistic license and Dan Brown could always argue 'fair use'. I for one think that it is criminal that even after such allegations of dishonesty on both parties, they continue to rack up sales. What is going on with Joe Consumer?
EDIT: But after giving it a thought, it seems as though Dan Brown has committed the bigger evil. Being primarily an entertainer; his Da Vinci Code, an obvious stab at the pop-culture brass ring; he has made the sloppiest mistake an entertainer could make: Not caring enough to be original. The best entertainers have always been the ones who have come up with something new or taken an old, reliable premise and made it into something that is entirely their own. It seems by copying passages wholesale and plagiarizing so blatantly, he has become; in my eyes; a hack, a total apathetic mass-culture teat puller. His trash is beyond redemption and has become nothing more than a cynical attempt at mega-entrepenuership.

[Intellivision]

You make some good points there.

Though I think I may not have expressed myself clearly enough when I wrote that "the subject matter relative to each of the author's 'work' may also feasibly play an interesting role in determining one's vote."

I realize that the two books have dissimilar subject matter.

What do you think "is going on with Joe Consumer," as you put it?
The floor is yours.

[alyasa]

Oh, Joe Consumer has always lapped it up hasn't he? Every hula hoop sold, every pair of 3-D glasses passed out at a cinema bears testament to that. It just is indicative of the corporate IQ in regards to pulling the average man's leg. They've listened to the lectures on market psychology, brand managment; they payed attention to the semi-literate pleas and musings of the common man for something to fill their christmas stockings that have some semblance of credibility and worth and they've adjusted their market strategies accordingly. When the mall kids wanted punk bands, they gave the world polished boy band punk poseurs who have copped the sound and image of the O.Gs just so. They payed attention to the old punk bands and their music and mass-market appeal and replicated it on a large scale for the masses to consume; all the while Joe Consumer being none the wiser. The corporate machines even gain credibility points with some kids, who believe they're becoming more enlightened. They are. At how to take the money and run. I think all of this has been said countless times before by people more qualified and much more articulate than I am. My two cents, thanks for reading.

[Style]

If I had to choose Frey is far worse. He didn't just lie about a few events, a lot of people have said that he ripped off eddie little in writing his story.

[Everyneurotic]

Originally Posted by Saturnine

how about they're both fucking stupid. let's move on.

*standing ovation*

what's next, threads about desperate housewives? how about american idol?

[m^a(t)h]

Dan Brown's book is under non fiction, its next to books about talking animals. Therefore Im smart enough to know that I dont need to believe anything he says.

Frey's book is an autobiography, so hes the worse of the two.

Simple as that....

[nomadicfollower]

Dan Brown, due to the 'intellectuals' who him-they can go fuck themselves.

[alyasa]

Yeah, I hope Dan Brown keels over and vomits the contents of his stomach due to the sheer psychic, hostile enmity radiated from this Dan Brown hatin' thread.

[atari 2600]

James Frey, gives his first interview since the whole I-sold-a-memoir-about-my-non-existent-life flap and extremely public Oprah smackdown.

[Cantankerous]

if it were james brown versus dan frey, james brown would win, no contest.