The Construction of Authorship: Textual Appropriation in Law and Literature (Post-Contemporary Interventions)

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating studies on authorship--from Gutenberg to the Net
Review: This is a beguiling and enjoyable collection of essays on our changing ideas of authorship. Rap music and sampling, Milton's book deal, movies and the "auteur", the author and the Net -- Woodmansee and Jaszi are not only the most interesting people writing today about authorship and texts, they have assembled some of the most readable academic papers I have seen in a long time. If you have ever wondered whether e-mail is changing our notion of writing, wanted to know how copyright got started, or read John Perry Barlow on the collapse of intellectual property, this book is for you.