{"id":7310,"date":"2016-07-25T07:36:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T11:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=7310"},"modified":"2021-12-07T08:52:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T13:52:29","slug":"a-little-obsession-with-author-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/07\/25\/a-little-obsession-with-author-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"a little obsession with author voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before copyright law there were poets and playwrights who bemoaned the theft of their work and words by others while at the same time they stole words to build their poems and plays.\u00a0 Plagiarism was rampant, though, the act of literary theft was only just termed plagiarism, by one poet’s re-purposing of a Latin term for man-stealing or kidnapping.\u00a0 After copyright law was established, there were authors postulating its merits and its deficiencies, in writing, to the public and their peers.\u00a0 Authors were thinking about copyright.<\/p>\n

When I discovered that one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain, had stood before congress to give his professional opinion on a copyright term extension I was more than excited.\u00a0 But, I found myself arguing with Twain.\u00a0 I could see some of his point, but I did not agree with all of it.\u00a0 I wondered, where were the author voices on copyright today.\u00a0 I’m still searching, but what I’m finding is that most of the well known, professionally published and successful authors are letting publishers and author’s guilds speak for them.\u00a0 Do they really agree with everything that’s being said?<\/p>\n

Now that copyright is immediate without registration, the world is teaming with authors.\u00a0 Some write for fun, and to entertain their friends.\u00a0 Some make a living off of it, or perhaps off of other creative endeavors offered up to the public via the web.\u00a0 And just like those poet thieves from before copyright law, all authors are users of copyrighted content as well.\u00a0 With this huge population of authors, there is still little thinking and postulating and writing about copyright.\u00a0 I’m not saying copyright theory is crazy sexy or anything…well, no, you know what?\u00a0 It is.\u00a0 It is obsession worthy.\u00a0 It is discussion worthy.\u00a0 I mean, think about it, copyright law is government regulation over what we birth and grow in our minds and give to the world.\u00a0 If Athena emerged from Zeus’ head today she would be protected by copyright law!\u00a0 If art is a conversation, copyright law is keeping checks on what we say!<\/p>\n

\"copyrightfistfight\"<\/a> \"CopyrightposterTwain&Tolstoy\"<\/a><\/center>Anyway, my obsession with finding author voices has resulted in these things, so far.\u00a0 Twain and Tolstoy were contemporaries; and if you think all authors would argue for longer and stronger copyright law, Tolstoy would prove you wrong.\u00a0 He was against copyright.\u00a0 He looked on his writing as a service to the public that both provided him the experiences he used to write and the living that let him write.\u00a0 The burden of his education and leisure was to reach out to people, teach them, and attempt to enrich their lives with the fruit of his literary genius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before copyright law there were poets and playwrights who bemoaned the theft of their work and words by others while at the same time they stole words to build their poems and plays.\u00a0 Plagiarism was rampant, though, the act of literary theft was only just termed plagiarism, by one poet’s re-purposing of a Latin term… Continue reading a little obsession with author voices<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[75,73,102,123],"class_list":["post-7310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-copyright","tag-librarians","tag-mark-twain","tag-research"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7961,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2018\/09\/05\/fan-fail-apologies-to-mr-twain\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":0},"title":"Fan Fail, apologies to Mr. Twain","author":"leems","date":"September 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought that I was a fan of Mark Twain's work, though I would usually specify that I enjoyed his essays and sketches more than the novels he is typically known for.\u00a0 I have to admit, I am not a very good fan, perhaps of anything, because it never occurred\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/snip-HannibalJournal18520916-318x600.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7266,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/07\/06\/copyright-forever-less-one-day-youtube\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":1},"title":"Copyright: Forever Less One Day – YouTube","author":"leems","date":"July 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm not sure I can say that I think copyright should expire before the death of the author, and I adore Mark Twain even if he did declare his belief in perpetual copyright...this video makes some fabulous points.","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7399,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2016\/10\/24\/what-if-copyright-did-actually-balance-the-needs-of-the-creator-and-the-user\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":2},"title":"What if copyright did actually balance the needs of the creator and the user?","author":"leems","date":"October 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"An article on Tofugu (Japanese pop culture blog) about Doujinshi Culture has a fascinating description of a copyright system that truly balances the needs of both creator and user:\u00a0 Japan\u2019s Doujinshi Culture Of Creativity Through Theft And The Monster Trying To Destroy It by Rich and Michael Richey \u2022 Art\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4225,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2013\/07\/30\/congressional-copyright-hearings\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":3},"title":"Congressional Copyright Hearings","author":"leems","date":"July 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Congress is finally reviewing copyright as it stands in the USA.\u00a0 But, according to the latest news, they are not including creators in the process.\u00a0 Oh, they're involving copyright holders, yes.\u00a0 The ginormous companies that have inherited, bought, or had signed over the copyright to thousands upon thousands of creative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6031,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/05\/09\/mark-twain-stories-150-years-old-uncovered-by-berkeley-scholars-books-the-guardian\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":4},"title":"Mark Twain stories, 150 years old, uncovered by Berkeley scholars | Books | The Guardian","author":"leems","date":"May 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Cache shows Twain working as a newspaper man in San Francisco.\u00a0 As a young man at the Berkeley archivists describe, the stash is \u2018like opening up a big box of candy.\u2019 Source: Mark Twain stories, 150 years old, uncovered by Berkeley scholars | Books | The Guardian Are you excited?\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.guim.co.uk\/static\/w-300\/h--\/q-95\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2015\/5\/4\/1430776047323\/9fba8bab-f569-44c5-896b-8643ae338d64-300x180.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7150,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2019\/05\/15\/ramblings-on-copyright\/","url_meta":{"origin":7310,"position":5},"title":"ramblings on copyright","author":"leems","date":"May 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In addition to my developing obsession with finding author voices relating to developments in copyright law, I have been searching every resource I can find to figure out interesting ways of communicating to students and faculty on campus about copyright.\u00a0 The most hilarious resource might be the most obvious:\u00a0 the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_20160312_121217","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/IMG_20160312_121217-242x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7341,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7310\/revisions\/7341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}