One of the world's most famous names, literal value and legacy aside, is Dan Brown. Although his first novel was rejected, his second one was a splash.
His novel approach to the quasi historical novel, replete with fantastic connections to facts unspoken or unproven, delivered in script like terseness and simplicity, was taken as a near revelation of secrets unspoken by the mighty institution of the Church.
Even if many begrudge Dan Brown's less than erudite literary style, the man does know how to strike a nerve. Nothing like putting the church and its byzantine mechanism into the grinding wheels of a public that needs to know the 'truth'.
And as far as publishing goes, the Dan Browns of this earth are manna from heaven. They are the unicorns that publishing houses dream of at night.
With that come a few pitfalls. Such as people trying to get a preview or secretly making away with a copy of the book before its release. J.K. Rowling knows a thing or two about that.
This time however, the publishers of Dan Brown's Inferno took measures to protect its translators and the script from snooping that seem like a self fulfiling prophecy. In fact the book which is due for release on May 14th of this year, is called Inferno, and has more than a passing connection to Dante's legendary tome.
The hapless translators of several different languages were grouped in a dungeon-like bunker, where they were sequestered for 11 months as they ferreted out the translated versions of the book.
The translators were said to have worked 7 seven a week, until 8pm at times, in a windowless basement in Milan in a property owned by Mondadori, one of Europe's largest publishers.
The 11 translators were prohibited from any electronic contact and were manned by security personnel 24/7, their only respite access to the Mondadori mess hall.
The translator related that there were so many regulations and restrictions, that they had a sense they were not trusted to keep the secret they were privy to.
But this is, in a sense, the future of celebrity publishing. There are just too many variables that could cause of leak of information, and these books are too financially important to take any chances. It seems that people who read such books will go to any length to procure its next installment, foregoing other less popular if valuable writers.
It remains to be seen if this book will follow in the steps of Dan Brown's previous tomes, which have sold more than 200 million copies.
Source : Independent UK 5.8.13
No comments:
Post a Comment