The Wind Done Gone
The Wind Done Gone is the first novel written by Alice Randall. The title, and the novel itself, are closely linked to Gone With the Wind, a famous American novel (and film) written by Margaret Mitchell.
Plot summary
The plot of Gone With the Wind revolves around a rich Southern woman named Scarlett O'Hara, who lives through the American Civil War and Reconstruction. The Wind Done Gone is the same story, but told from the viewpoint of a mulatto slave on Scarlett's plantation (see History of slavery in the United States); the title is simply "Gone With the Wind" rendered into a slave's vernacular dialect.
Legal controversy
The estate of Margaret Mitchell (i.e. her descendants) sued Randall and her publishing company, Houghton Mifflin, on the grounds that The Wind Done Gone was too similar to Gone With the Wind, thus infringing its copyright. The case attracted numerous comments from leading scholars, authors, and activists, regarding what Mitchell's attitudes would have been, and how much The Wind Done Gone copies from its predecessor. The case was resolved in 2002, when Houghton Mifflin agreed to make an unspecified donation to Morehouse College, a historically African American college in Atlanta, Georgia. In exchange, Mitchell's estate agreed to drop the suit and allow the publication of The Wind Done Gone.
External links A CNN article on the suit Freedom Forum article on the settlement
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