Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2014
Published In
The American Novel To 1870
Series Title
Oxford History Of The Novel In English
Abstract
This chapter examines the perils associated with American authorship during the early nineteenth century, with particular reference to issue of intellectual property and copyright. It begins with an analysis of the impact of intellectual property rights on publishing and the culture of reprinting, along with the influence of copyright on the American novel. It then considers the problem concerning the definition of “American authorship” and how the unstable nature of American authorship subjected writers who wished to promote it to charges of fraudulence. It also explores the question of originality among writers before concluding with a discussion of the radical expansion of publishing in the post-Civil War era and its effects on literary property and literary nationalism.
Keywords
American authorship, intellectual property, copyright, publishing, reprinting, American novel, American authorship, fraudulence, originality, literary property, literary nationalism
Published By
Oxford University Press
Editor(s)
J. G. Kennedy And L. S. Person
Recommended Citation
Lara Langer Cohen and M. L. McGill.
(2014).
"The Perils Of Authorship: Literary Propoerty And Nineteenth-Century American Fiction".
The American Novel To 1870.
Volume 5,
195-212.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195385359.003.0011
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-english-lit/305
Comments
This material was originally published in The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 5: The American Novel to 1870 edited by J. Gerald Kennedy and Leland S. Person, and has been reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. For permission to reuse this material, please visit http://global.oup.com/academic/rights.