It seems the Herald Express has seen all the coverage about the Maureen Dowd / New York Times plagiarism brouhaha and decided it wants a slice of the action.
The paper recently wittered on at great length about literary historian Dr Andrew Norman who claims that Jane Austen had a doomed romance in Totnes. Hey, who hasn’t?
Apparently, Jane’s sister Cassandra fancied the same bloke and there was a bit of a falling out. You’d think Cassandra woulda seen it coming, wouldn’t you?
Evidence comes from an 1807 (that’s almost 10 past six) poem which contains these lines on love: “It is the cause of many woes/ It swells the eyes and reds the nose.” And there we were thinking it was talking about swine flu.
Dr Norman said (while punching the air triumphantly): “I have proved beyond reasonable doubt that Jane and Cassandra fell out.” Well done, Dr Norman.
Anyway, according to Meg Davis-Berry, who’s posted a comment on the story on thisissouthdevon, it appears the story was copied wholesale from The Telegraph – or at least both papers received the same (particularly dull) press release.
Meg says: ‘I looked to local news to add something extra to what was printed in the Telegraph. Instead we have a word for word copy. The Hindustan Times produced a more interesting and in depth piece than you did. I’m serious. Google it and see.’
Hmm, we probably won’t bother.
Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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