Subject: Re: new member
From: Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 04 2000 - 14:35:28 GMT
On Sun, Sep 03, 2000 at 07:38:44AM +0200, Otto Sell wrote:
> By reading the following which you all recieved from the list owner I ask
> myself: how is it possible to discuss the work of an author without quoting
> text pieces occasionally?
Welcome, Otto!
You raise a good point. Salinger is obsessed with keeping people from
using his work without authorization. In the U.S., there is a "fair
use" law that allows limited quoting of copywrited material as long as
it is not a substantial proportion of the item from which you quote.
(Does it sound vague? Of course! It is vague.)
It means that quoting 50 words from a 100-word letter would probably be
judged to violate the principles of fair use, while quoting 50 words
from a 50,000-word book probably would not.
There's also the matter of whether the quotation is for scholarly
purposes or for financial gain.
When the writer Ian Hamilton wrote the original version of IN SEARCH OF
J.D. SALINGER, he was blocked in the courts from proceeding with
publication, because Salinger argued that Hamilton quoted too much of
Salinger's unpublished letters, and that he was doing it for financial
gain. It was an arduous legal battle, but in the end Hamilton was
required to revise such that he PARAPHRASE Salinger's words rather than
quote them.
Ever since then, there has been a real chill in the air when it comes to
biographers quoting from primary source material, and it especially
makes Salinger scholars paranoid about crossing that invisible line.
The web site (www.roughdraft.org/JDS) has a pointer to a definition of
"fair use" and to U.S. copyright law pertaining to the use of
copyrighted information. I hope it will help you.
I agree with you that it's vague and absurd.
> Of course no one wants legal trouble and nobody wants to copy a whole story
> but a >quote< is a quote and not necessarily "unauthorized reproduction."
Absolutely. At times it's a judgment call, and in general, the people
here exercise remarkably good judgment about what they reproduce.
Anyhow, welcome!
--tim o'connor
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