Misanthrope's Corner.(retelling of "Gone with the Wind" from African-American perspective)(Brief Article)(Column)

The new GWTW ripoff is the ebonically titled The Wind Done Gone, by Alice Randall, a black woman who tells the story via the diary of the mulatto Cynara, daughter of Gerald O'Hara and Mammy. Cynara is thus the half sister of Scarlett, whom Randall names "Other" and describes in a plagiaristic passage boldly lifted from the first sentence in the original book. It's a sentence I know well, having used it for years to test new typewriters:

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were."

Randall's version: "She was not beautiful, but men seldom recognized this, caught up in the cloud of commotion and scent in which she moved."

That's enough to give us a good idea of other dissonant horrors to come. The book is presently tied up in litigation by the Margaret Mitchell Estate's efforts to stop Houghton Mifflin from publishing it, but anyone who thinks it will never see the light of print should contemplate the bumper sticker that defines our times: "S**t happens."

Helping to shovel the book along is a clutch of concerned literary lights-Harper Lee, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Shelby Foote, and John Berendt-who have issued an open letter averring, "Now is the time for the American public to hear another perspective of this legend." Note that last word: A novel copyrighted in 1936 has been turned into a myth of antiquity, like Andromeda or Beowulf, too shrouded by the veils of time for anyone to state with certainty who the original author was, and ripe for plucking by any bard who feels like fiddling with it.

Following the arguments of the pro-publication side is like following Ariadne through the Labyrinth after she has run out of string. Race, not intellectual property, is the overriding issue. "Author" Randall takes a flying leap into post hoc, forging a direct connection between the Old South's prohibition on teaching slaves to read and write, and "those who would try to set up obstacles for a black woman to tell her story, and the story of her people, with words in writing."

Someone should explain to "Author" Randall that copyright laws did not grow out of the Black Codes, but Houghton Mifflin's intellectual- property lawyer, Joseph Beck, is too busy practicing literary criticism. The Mitchell Estate wants to censor Randall's book, he believes, because "I think they fear the ridicule that is brought to life. They know the misdepiction of African Americans is a weakness in Gone with the Wind."