In Poe's story, Fortunato is chained to the wall of the vault, after
which he is literally walled up and buried alive. In "The New
Catacomb," the redresser of the wrong takes the evil-doer down into
the catacomb and leaves him while he finds his own way out by means of
a trail of cord, knowing that the other, unable to follow him, is
being left in what will be his tomb.
The dramatic intensity of Doyle's story is just as great as in that
written by Poe; the "hero" is as much deserving of our sympathy as the
"villain" merits our condemnation; and the treatment of the theme,
from first to last, makes Doyle's an absolutely original story,
although there is little doubt that it was suggested, or, at least
influenced, either by the one written many years before by the
American master of the short-story, or by Balzac's remarkable tale
referred to above.
The discriminating photoplaywright will have no difficulty in making
the application of this illustration of how an original story may grow
out of an old theme. _But be careful not to turn this liberty into an
excuse for adhering closely to a borrowed theme._
_2. Plagiarism_
In justice to writers in general it is only fair to believe that most
cases of plagiarism are quite unintentional. The fault usually is in
the writer's memory.
Pages:
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385