Life, the Universe and Everything

Another court case rumbles on in New York to give us all some cheap entertainment. Author J. K. Rowling I suing Steve Vander Ark - self-confessed Potter nut - for infringement of copyright. We have had tears on both sides in yet another pointless court case (how long ago did the McCartney’s divorce and the coroner’s Verdict into the death of Princess Diana finish? I have lost track). I am all in favour of an author’s right to protection of their work from plagiarism, but Vander Ark’s Harry Potter lexicon does not seem to me to fit into that particular category.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then compiling a lexicon would come a very close second in my opinion. Many literary giants have had similar books written in their honour - I own several that pay homage to James Bond and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - and many people would suggest that Rowling should be honoured that somebody has taken her work so seriously.

Natalie Haynes, writing in The Times disagrees: Haynes is fed up with people that pick the best parts of a narrative and then publish these with their own name on the cover. Haynes was so incensed that she was prepared to “suspend [her] lifelong opposition to the death penalty”.

Christopher Calderwood, writing in the FT felt that Rowling looked condescending, self-regarding and mean. By claiming that Vander Ark has demeaned her creation Rowling has conveniently ignored her own endorsement of a Harry Potter theme park in Florida. Rowling cried when she told the court how Vander Ark had plundered her creativity; which the judge went on to refer to as gibberish.

When you consider that Vander Ark’s work had a rather modest print run of 10,000 copies, you would be forgiven of thinking of generating a phrase using the words sledgehammer, crack and nuts!