Copyright Without Law? Copyright Without Law?
A legal quirk enabled Samuel Roth to pirate Ulysses. Was Roth a copyright anarchist or a pioneer?
Oct 1, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
A Professional Victim: On Ira B. Arnstein A Professional Victim: On Ira B. Arnstein
How music plagiarism ruined a composer’s career and literally drove him mad.
Apr 30, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Stalker Stalker
For the novelist James Lasdun, being stalked online is like “swallowing a cup of poison every morning.”
Feb 13, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Havel’s Specter: On Václav Havel Havel’s Specter: On Václav Havel
The Czech playwright's enduring ideas about politics, truth and human nature.
Mar 21, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Letters Letters
Do justices feel shame?—the Met found wanting—can Congress feel our pain?—eyewitnesses: not 20/20—a reviewed author objects—Rainbow Rowell’s wel...
Feb 29, 2012 / Our Readers and Caleb Crain
Fair and Balanced: On Copyright and Fair Use Fair and Balanced: On Copyright and Fair Use
Have copyright laws failed?
Jan 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Pixies, Sheilas, Dirtbags and Cougar Bait: Modern Slang Pixies, Sheilas, Dirtbags and Cougar Bait: Modern Slang
There's more slang than dictionaries can capture, but two new lexicons speak volumes on the riches of language.
Dec 10, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
Man’s Best Friend Man’s Best Friend
As Stevie Smith once wrote, while impersonating God, "I will forgive you everything,/But what you have done to my Dogs/I will not forgive." About Dan Rhodes's novel Timoleon Vi...
Oct 16, 2003 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
The Undertaker’s Art, Exhumed The Undertaker’s Art, Exhumed
"It's a great mistake not to feel pleased when you have the chance," a rich, disfigured spinster advises a frail, well-mannered boy in The Shrimp and the Anemone, the first novel ...
Apr 11, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain
License to Ink License to Ink
The subtitle sounds bad, but keep in mind that Thorstein Veblen considered subtitling his book on academics "A Study in Total Depravity." The really bad news concerns the title: ...
Jan 24, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Caleb Crain