Sunday, February 15, 2004

Speaking of Joyce ... My brother John points me to a BoingBoing post -- a post via a post about a post about an article in the Irish Times, actually (don't visit the newspaper site unless you're ready to pay) -- about the Joyce estate and its swinish stand on copyright: It's threatening to sue for infringement if anyone dares stage a public reading of "Ulysses" this coming June 16, the 100th anniversary of Leopold's, Stephen's, Molly's and Dublin's ficitonal day as recorded in the novel. The lead of an Irish Times story from February 9 (copyright The Irish Times):  Joyce estate warns festival over copyright issues By Jamie Smith "The Joyce estate has warned the organisers of the Bloomsday centenary festival, "ReJoyce Dublin 2004," and the Government that it will sue for any breach of the estate's copyright. "The warnings, which have also been given to the director of the National Library, RTE and the Joyce Centre, will prevent certain events from being held during the festival. These include public readings from Ulysses and a proposal by the Abbey to stage Joyce's play Exiles. ..." Yes, that's pig-headed. But, before I start gnashing my teeth -- already worn down from other gnashings -- it's kind of hard to blame them if you look at the way copyright is being handled in this country. Whatever income  the Joyce estate protects by doing this, or creative ferment it stifles, it ain't in the same league with the greed expressed in U.S. copyright law, which has been changed and changed again to grant nearly perpetual rights to creators or (more important) the owners of creations. 8:00:56 PM    comment []

Commonplace book "I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning. ... "...I will tell you also what I do not fear. I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too." --James Joyce "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" 12:24:11 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Brekke.