Plagiarism,
Research Similarities, or Jealousy?
'DA
VINCI' CALLED HEAVY LIFTER
By
Richard Johnson
DAN Brown,
the author of last year's best-selling "The Da Vinci
Code," is nothing but a plagiarist, charges the author of
two novels that are strikingly similar to Brown's.
Author Lewis
Perdue is preparing to sue Brown for copyright infringement,
claiming "The Da Vinci Code" is in large part stolen
from his 1983 novel, "The Da Vinci Legacy" and its
1985 follow-up, "Daughter of God" - which were both
recently optioned by "Survivor" creator Mark
Burnett.
A
representative for Brown's publisher, Random House, says,
"The charges are without merit."
All three books
are about a woman who stumbles onto a bizarre plot by the
Catholic church to cover up evidence of a female messiah. Within
that context, Perdue alleges very specific parallels.
According to
documents prepared by John Olsson, head of the Forensic
Linguistics Institute - who is helping Perdue prepare his case
for free - in all three novels:
* The action is
launched by the murder of an art expert who is found dying in
his office, and who scribbles a clue in his own blood.
* The male
hero, who knows the murdered expert, is accused of the killing.
* The clue left
by the dead expert leads the hero and heroine to a painting on a
wood panel whose title refers to the woman being worshipped in
the novel.
* The curator
in charge of the painting gives the heroine a gold key that
opens a safe deposit box in a Zurich bank, which holds yet
another container requiring a combination.
* Leonardo Da
Vinci's notebook "Codex Leicester" is used to make a
critical plot point. Strangely, both novelists make the same
factual error about the famous work. Da Vinci wrote the book -
now known as "Codex Hammer" - on 18 double-sided
sheets of linen loose-leaf paper. Perdue and Brown both
mistakenly state that it was written on parchment.
"This is
the most blatant example of in-your-face plagiarism I've ever
seen," Olsson tells PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman.
"There are literally hundreds of a parallels."
Though Olsson's
papers cite more than 70 instances where Brown's book seems to
mirror those by Perdue, Perdue says it represents only 40
percent of his evidence and that he's saving the rest for court.
He has two years left before the statute of limitations for
copyright infringement expires.
Of Brown, he
says: "I feel sorry for him. He has to live with that in
his heart."
Note from
Wildes: I'm sure it keeps Dan up tossing and turning all
night. I believe the Spanish phrase would be . . . Pobrecita.
