Awards

• Winner of Honorable Mention from the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures from the Modern Language Association.
• Winner of Winner of the 2019 Waterloo Centre for German Studies Best First Book Prize Honorable Mention from the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures from the Modern Language Association.

Overview

How did authors control the literary fates of fictional characters before the existence of copyright? Could a second author do anything with another author's character? Situated between the decline of the privilege system and the rise of copyright, literary borrowing in eighteenth-century Germany has long been considered unregulated. This book tells a different story. Characters before Copyright documents the surprisingly widespread eighteenth-century practice of writing fan fictionliterary works written by readers who appropriate preexisting characters invented by other authorsand reconstructs the contemporaneous debate about the literary phenomenon. Like fan fiction today, these texts took the form of sequels, prequels, and spinoffs. Analyzing the evolving reading, writing, and consumer habits of late-eighteenth-century Germany, Characters before Copyright identifies the social, economic, and aesthetic changes that fostered the rapid rise of fan fiction after 1750. Based on archival work and an ethnographic approach borrowed from legal anthropology, this book then uncovers the unwritten customary norms that governed the production of these works. Characters before Copyright thus reinterprets the eighteenth-century literary commons, arguing that what may appear to have been the free circulation of characters was actually circumscribed by an exacting set of rules and conditions. These norms translated into a unique type of literature that gave rise to remarkable forms of collaborative authorship and originality. Characters before Copyright provides a new perspective on the eighteenth-century book trade and the rise of intellectual property, reevaluating the concept of literary property, the history of moral rights, and the tradition of free culture.

Full Product Details

9780198831976

Table of Contents

Reviews

Matthew Birkhold has written a fascinating book about the upsurge in eighteenth century Germany of what can only be called fan fiction . Given the absence of copyright law at this time, it was perfectly legal for dozens or even hundreds of authors to write new adventures for such famous characters as Werther and Lotte from Goethe's The Sufferings of Young Werther. In short, writers and readers shared a kind of joint interest in thecharacters they created and re-created. But that doesn't mean that there were no rules: as Birkhold shows, a set of subtle yet powerful norms divided permitted from forbidden uses of beloved characters. In short, Birkhold's book documents another fascinating cases of order without law * Christopher Sprigman, NYU Law School *

An appendix lists the works and those that followed (including plot summaries), provides background information on less-known source authors, and outlines reception. The history of authorship and intellectual property rights encourages consideration of these and similar texts that help define the era known for Romanticism and Classicism, thereby examining the relationship of moral law and literature. The bibliography and index are impressive. ... Recommended * CHOICE * Matthew Birkhold has written a fascinating book about the upsurge in eighteenth century Germany of what can only be called fan fiction . Given the absence of copyright law at this time, it was perfectly legal for dozens or even hundreds of authors to write new adventures for such famous characters as Werther and Lotte from Goethe's The Sufferings of Young Werther. In short, writers and readers shared a kind of joint interest in thecharacters they created and re-created. But that doesn't mean that there were no rules: as Birkhold shows, a set of subtle yet powerful norms divided permitted from forbidden uses of beloved characters. In short, Birkhold's book documents another fascinating cases of order without law * Christopher Sprigman, NYU Law School *

Author Information

Matthew H. Birkhold is an assistant professor of German at the Ohio State University, where he also holds an appointment at the Moritz College of Law. After completing his Ph.D. at Princeton University and J.D. at Columbia Law School, Dr Birkhold worked as an attorney-adviser for the US Department of State. His research and teaching examine the interrelations of law, culture, and the humanities.

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