La Repubblica has a very interesting story today - apparently a 'scoop' since no other Italian paper has reported it - about Volume 2 of JESUS OF NAZARETH but the writer inexplicably chooses to make a duel between publishing houses his lead.
Pope says he worked on parts
of JESUS OF NAZARETH, Vol. 2,
during his Holy Land visit
by Orazio La Rocca
Translated from
June 13, 2009
VATICAN CITY - There appears to be an editorial battle over Benedict XVI's Volume 2 of JESUS OF NAZARETH which is expected to be published this year.
It is a much awaited event, after the great success of the first volume published by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI in 2007, through [the Italian publishing house] Rizzoli under an agreement with the Vatican publishing house LEV. The book has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide so far.
The volume is particularly dear to the Pope because it will deal with the episodes that represent the essence of Christian faith (the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ), to the point that the Pope recently revealed he had written some parts during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land last month.
But in anticipation of the inevitable publishing boom that the new book will represent, there has been a battle of publishers in and around the Vatican in recent months which threatens to be long and difficult.
On the one hand, there's Rizzoli which intends to conclude a similar deal with LEV on the second book as it had for Volume 1
[worldwide rights for marketing], reportedly for 20% of cover price.
On the other hand, the largest Catholic publishing house in Europe, Germany's Herder, intends to bid for the same rights, since it owns the rights to Joseph Ratzinger's complete works, from 1950 to 2005, which it is publishing in a 16-volume series. The first volume [dedicated to Ratzinger's writings on liturgy] came out in German last year and its Italian translation is set to come out in September.
The Pope met last week with Herder officials who asked him how the second book on Jesus was going.
"I am in fact finalizing it at this time, between one appointment and the other," the Pope reportedly said promptly. "In fact, I wrote some parts during my recent visit to the Holy Land."
In particular, the Pope reportedly said that he 'worked at night away from other eyes and ears' about 'the most emotional moments' that he felt while visiting the sites associated with Christ's life on earth - the Grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and on his last day in Jerusalem, to Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre.
He said he looked at everything with the eyes of a first-time pilgrim, observing the smallest details, and sought to immediately write down the most intimate sensations he felt in front of 'those stones that have spoken of Jesus for 2000 years".
All this has made Herder officials determined to get first rights to Volume 2, if it can get by Rizzoli.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/06/2009 07:13]