Famed Parisian Fabric Store Sues Author For Defamation After She Used The Store In A Novel

from the write-what-you-know dept

This is just getting silly. The famous saying in the writing business is "write what you know," but when "what you know" sues you for defamation, things get tricky. We've covered various stories of people suing (and sometimes winning) by claiming defamation in that a fictional character was "based on them." This makes very little sense, as most characters that novelists write are loosely based on people they know... and exaggerated or composited with others. That's how you create realistic believable fictional characters.

But what if you get beyond characters to actual locations?

Copycense points us to the news of a famous landmark Parisian fabric store that was used as a major set piece in a novel by Lalie Walker. Apparently, the store, the Marche Saint Pierre, was not at all pleased and has sued Walker for defamation, demanding €2 million in damages.

The author is "flabbergasted" and notes that she wrote the novel "from an affectionate point of view" in an attempt to pay tribute to the store.

But Village d'Orsel, the business which runs the Marche Saint Pierre, insists that the book -- Aux Malheurs des Dames, a play on an Emile Zola novel set in Paris's 19th-century department stores -- tarnishes its image. For more than 60 years the multi-storey shop has provided customers with a wealth of materials at low cost from its building at the foot of the Butte, or hill, of Montmartre.

By describing a mysterious -- and fictional -- malaise afflicting the self-declared "kingdom of fabric", it says the book gives a false impression of the Marche.

This is what we get in an "ownership society" where everyone thinks that they have full control over what others can say about them -- even in fictional stories.

Filed Under: defamation, lalie walker, marche saint pierre, novel