Boekenhandels kunnen een nieuw genre in de (web)winkel indelen, die van de ongeautoriseerde autobiografie. De term lijkt een contradictio in terminis. Immers, als je de biografie zelf (mede) schrijft, is het zeldzaam dat je later zegt; nee publiceer toch maar niet. Zoals wel vaker in WikiLeaks-wereld: Julian Assange deed dat wel.
De Guardian meldt vandaag dat uitgeverij Canongate de autobiografie zal publiceren zonder de toestemming van Assange. De uitgeverij heeft een verklaring doen uitgaan over het hoe en waarom:
Despite sitting for more than fifty hours of taped interviews and spending many late nights at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk (where he was living under house arrest) discussing his life and the work of WikiLeaks with the writer he had enlisted to help him, Julian became increasingly troubled by the thought of publishing an autobiography. After reading the first draft of the book that was delivered at the end of March, Julian declared, ‘All memoir is prostitution’.
On 7 June 2011, with 38 publishing houses around the world committed to releasing the book, Julian told us he wanted to cancel his contract. However, he had already signed his advance over to his lawyers to settle his legal bills.
The Independent, die het boek in delen zou publiceren in de krant, schreef er het volgende over:
Mr Assange’s decision to renege on his contract plunged Canongate into a crisis. Faced with the prospect of having to pay back the rights they had already sold abroad they tried to negotiate with the WikiLeaks founder but found him unwilling to reach a compromise.
He was given two months to work on the manuscript but deadlines went by without any further work.
The publisher’s lawyers believe they still have the right to release the memoir because a £500,000 advance that was paid to Mr Assange has not been returned. It is believed the money was placed into escrow which means that Mr Assange’s lawyers have first claim on it once their legal bills are due.
De vraag is natuurlijk, hoeveel nieuws staat er in het boek. Begin dit jaar heb ik vijf boeken over WikiLeaks gelezen en gerecenseerd in NRC Boeken (lees de recensie) en toen schreef ik dat er eigenlijk alleen echte onthullingen stonden in het boek van Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Het was misschien niet het best geschreven boek, maar er stond dus wel wat nieuws in. Eens kijken wat er uit Assange’s eigen verhaal lekt.
Peter Teffer 