[HN Gopher] George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now?
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George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now?
Author : headalgorithm
Score : 172 points
Date : 2021-01-01 13:59 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| YuccaGloriosa wrote:
| "a robot from 1984" Isn't that a reference to a robot dancing
| style popularised around the time period of the year 1984. Not
| robots dancing in the book 1984?
| Digit-Al wrote:
| Yes. The actual lyric is "dancing to electropop like a robot
| from 1984" and it does, indeed, refer to a robotic dance style
| done to electronic pop music. A dance style that is always more
| effective when aided by strobe lights.
|
| Also, there were no robots in the book "1984".
| elvis70 wrote:
| I guess that doesn't apply to translations?
| retrac wrote:
| Generally, translations of literature are considered
| copyrightable in their own right, as translating literature is
| fundamentally a creative act. The translator would hold a
| copyright for their specific translation.
| lordleft wrote:
| I was surprised that Orwell's work wasn't under more permissive
| copyright terms given his democratic socialism. I'm looking
| forward to his work reaching more people.
| slim wrote:
| in his time copyright was not limiting the spread of knowledge
| an culture a the time, since distribution of printed books was
| capped by the logistics. it could easily take 50 years for your
| book to reach every reader on the planet
| mark_l_watson wrote:
| He was so far ahead of his time.
|
| I just started reading "Burmese Days" which reflects his life as
| a policeman in the British Empire, experiences that affected his
| views on life.
| hertzrat wrote:
| I strongly recommend down and out in London and Paris as well.
| He decides to live as realistically similar to a poor person
| for a while in a gonzo-like journalism experiment with a lot of
| interesting scenes and observations
| JNRowe wrote:
| I recently pimped an Orwell biography in a different thread1,
| but I'll do so again. Dorian Lynskey's The Ministry of Truth is
| a really well written and thoroughly researched treatise on
| Orwell.
|
| I found the passage of his life from Eton through Spain to his
| final books far more interesting than his actual writings(with
| the possible exception of Road to Wigan Pier).
|
| 1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25474279
| mhh__ wrote:
| His "As I please" lectures, particularly on the practice of
| calling people fascists, could've been written tomorrow they're
| so prescient.
| paulgb wrote:
| Note that while this applies to the UK [edit: not US, thanks
| boomboomsubban] (and some other life+70 countries), the copyright
| on his work has already expired in some countries.
|
| In Canada, the copyright term is life + 50 rather than life + 70,
| the minimum under the Berne Convention. In Australia, only
| authors who died after 1955 (Orwell died in 1950) get life + 70;
| authors such as Orwell are "grandfathered in" to life + 50.
|
| IIRC (although I can't find a source now), this confusing
| patchwork of copyright was the root cause behind the infamous
| deletion of some copies of 1984 from Kindles:
|
| https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18am...
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| Thanks, that explains why Such Such Were The Joys is available
| on an australian site, yet the TFA seemed to say it was still
| tied up.
|
| (I wonder to what degree my heterodox take on 1984 is due to
| the fact that I read SSWtJ, in combination with The Spike and
| other essays, well before having read 1984 itself?)
| bawolff wrote:
| > In Canada, the copyright term is life + 50
|
| Not for long, trump pressured us to change to life+70 which is
| probably coming sometime next year. :(
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| >Note that while this applies to the US
|
| It doesn't. His books are still covered under whatever law set
| up 95 years since publication, so it's a decade until his
| earliest releases enter public domain and ~25 for 1984.
| quercusa wrote:
| That would be the 'Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act'
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
| MichaelZuo wrote:
| Do you know how this interacts with NAFTA 2.0? If a work can
| be used for profit in Canada and not in the US...
| paulgb wrote:
| You're right, thanks. I've edited it.
| m463 wrote:
| On the other hand, the US gets The Great Gatsby today
| rriepe wrote:
| And just in time!
| kodah wrote:
| Reality steals his stories, duh
| samizdis wrote:
| FWIW, most of Orwell's works, including essays, have been
| available for many years at https://orwell.ru/
|
| These include "Such, such were the joys", referenced in the
| Guardian article when it states: "Neither will anyone be allowed
| to trespass on all the material that came to light post-1950 and
| which Davison painstakingly assembled in his compendious George
| Orwell: The Complete Works (1998). This includes Such, Such Were
| the Joys, the notorious account of his tribulations at a
| character-forming Sussex prep school, first published in the US
| in 1952 but not issued in the UK until as late as 1968, for fear
| of libel proceedings."
|
| That essay is here, and has been for a long time:
|
| https://orwell.ru/library/essays/joys/english/e_joys
| tashi wrote:
| I think you might be misunderstanding the point of the article.
| They're talking about the hurdles you have to jump in order to
| reprint or adapt his writings, not just read them.
| humaniania wrote:
| That makes me wonder why Russia would be interested in
| spreading Orwell's ideas.
| disown wrote:
| You think putin is personally hosting that site? The insane
| lunacy when it comes to putin, xi, trump, erdogan or
| whichever boogeyman the media/propagandists decides to
| scaremonger with.
| lasagnaphil wrote:
| I think you're overthinking this. it probably would be just a
| Russian hobbyist who's interested in archiving Orwell's
| works. (Also since these are in the public domain in Russian
| territory)
| throwaway2245 wrote:
| This makes me wonder if people really accept the Western
| media's point of view that a population of 150 million act in
| unison as a singular being named "Russia".
| 411111111111111 wrote:
| The "Russia" he referenced isn't the general population.
| It's the political party that's in power, influencing the
| media and allowing/forbidding things to be associated with
| it.
|
| Almost all nations actively shape their image, Russia is
| one of them. (Just as the usa)
| ofrzeta wrote:
| For the record, German Wikipedia has a page with creators who
| died 70 years ago [1]. I couldn't find a corresponding page in
| the English Wikipedia but as it's a list it doesn't matter too
| much (apart from the links to the respective WP articles).
|
| [1]
| https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_Domain_Day/20...
| phillc73 wrote:
| Nice find! Almost as interesting as Orwell is George Bernard
| Shaw making the list.
| [deleted]
| tinus_hn wrote:
| Governments around the world start copying it like madmen!
| heelix wrote:
| I look forward to some interesting Disney adaptations. Wonder how
| they will portray the Eastasia princess.
| gotoeleven wrote:
| I hope they make a modern version of 1984 where Winston is
| forced learn a lot of new pronouns.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| It needs to be a woke version where Julia is the strong
| female lead sent to root out corrupt officials like Winston.
| jinpa_zangpo wrote:
| I think a Disney version of Animal Farm is more likely.
| Animated talking animals are Disney's wheelhouse. I can see
| Napoleon and Snowball singing a duet as the opening song.
| xkde wrote:
| It's been done: https://youtu.be/2b-CMtKhTl0
|
| Though I suppose we're not above remakes.
| pwdisswordfish5 wrote:
| Right, there's still the photorealistic CGI version to be
| made.
| tgv wrote:
| Followed by the "live action remake".
| siltpotato wrote:
| Ah, but there's already been a live action Animal Farm as
| well. Hmm, what other territory can be breached?
| WarGames0 wrote:
| Directed by Michael Bay
| telesilla wrote:
| This version if I recall retains the horror aspect? What
| worries me is when they change the ending for some
| disturbing kind of happy ever after, the kind I can't
| imagine. Like what they did to the Little Mermaid. Next
| they'll be making a version of the Happy Prince (Hans
| Christian Anderson) where he remains a gold statue and
| keeps his jewels.
| ameliaquining wrote:
| It's not exactly a kids' movie, but it does end with
| Benjamin rallying the other animals to overthrow the
| pigs' rule.
|
| It later came to light that the movie had been financed
| by a CIA project to promote anti-communist art.
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| At this point it should be required annual training
| material for members of Congress.
| [deleted]
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| I like that this story examples how creativity can ramp up, when
| copyright gets out of the way.
| njharman wrote:
| And how the copyright monopoly robs our culture. With some of
| David Bowie's contribution to Art being denied and forever
| lost.
| motohagiography wrote:
| I would expect we can finally release editions with new
| introductions that address important criticisms of Orwell's
| privileged perspective, written by people of historically
| underrepresented groups, use them as a tool for educators to
| teach young people about the arrogance of male protagonists
| clinging to ideals of individualism that were artifacts of
| colonial domination, and without all the problematic
| representations of institutions of global justice.
|
| Surely.
| atlgator wrote:
| Now they turn 1984 into an instruction pamphlet.
| PsyCrops wrote:
| Or a microdot on playing cards distributed to communist
| countries.. similar to this concept:
| https://bicyclecards.com/article/a-map-inside-the-cards/
| capdeck wrote:
| What used to be fiction now is just news.
| waterhouse wrote:
| So someone could publish a version of 1984 that had certain
| characters completely expunged from the text, and others added.
| TuringNYC wrote:
| >> So someone could publish a version of 1984 that had certain
| characters completely expunged from the text, and others added.
|
| No real need to publish anything, we're living a variant of it
| every day. Without much creativity, we could map so many day-
| to-day things in 2020 to items in 1984.
| Jerrrry wrote:
| We are much closer the Brave New World than 1984.
| albertkawmi wrote:
| Your comment reminded me of this web comic comparison https
| ://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/hu...
| majewsky wrote:
| Ungoogled link:
| https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-
| webc...
| waterhouse wrote:
| I've seen this a few times. I'll say what I said last
| time:
|
| If many people are substantially harmed by wasting their
| time and energy on distractions, then those who waste
| less time will outcompete them. Whether the mechanism is
| common wisdom analogous to "don't drink alone or before
| the evening", parents teaching their kids in certain
| ways, religions that consider much "wasteful"
| entertainment to be sinful, or genes that contribute to
| conditions perhaps resembling autism where colorful
| flashy video registers as annoying or even painful, the
| problem seems likely to create its own solutions.
|
| One of the premises of "Brave New World" is that all
| children are raised by the State, and are forcibly (a)
| oxygen-deprived in the womb to limit their intelligence
| and (b) subjected throughout childhood to indoctrination
| _and hypnotherapy_ to make them say "I'm happy and
| content with my life, and my only desire is to chase
| consumer goods". I'm not sure why so many people seem to
| forget this.
| HarryHirsch wrote:
| Are we? Where do we find characters like Mustapha Mond?
| Instead we got the likes of Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg. No
| opinion about David Shaw and Jim Simons.
| Jon_Lowtek wrote:
| as can be seen by the caste system created due to
| abandoning natural birth in favor of genetically engineered
| babies being made at scale in factories.
| 5cotto wrote:
| Ironic considering Orwell plagiarized the plot of 1984 in the
| first place.
| rightbyte wrote:
| Plagiarized of what by who?
| HarryHirsch wrote:
| He may be talking about the underrated _Swastika Nights_. A
| new world, after memory of the old one has been erased is
| part of the plot, as is a secret manuscript.
|
| That said, stories and plots have been retold ever since
| the beginning of literature. Here's a lovely article about
| various versions of the well-known story about the Baalshem
| being asked to intercede for a sick child: https://brill.co
| m/view/journals/jjtp/22/2/article-p127_2.xml
| grzm wrote:
| Yevgeny Zamyatin's _We_. (1921)
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Also Jack London's "The Iron Heel":
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Heel
| jonny_eh wrote:
| Taking inspiration isn't plagiarism
| Jon_Lowtek wrote:
| books of the same genre share motifs and themes
| Jon_Lowtek wrote:
| H.G.Wells - _The Sleeper Awakens_
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeper_Awakes
| maskedoffender wrote:
| He was inspired by C. S. Lewis' that hideous strength.
| lukifer wrote:
| Interesting, I hadn't heard that, do we know that
| definitively? (THS was the only one of the Space Trilogy I
| never read, I should correct that.)
| zabzonk wrote:
| Orwell reviewed That Hideous Strength and said it had
| some good points. But it's definitely the weakest in the
| trilogy, and definitely did not influence 1984 in any
| obvious way. Still worth reading, though.
| sideshowb wrote:
| Having read both I can't speak for where Orwell drew
| inspiration, but I never noticed any similarities
| karaterobot wrote:
| I downvoted this, since it's a drive by insult without any
| kind of support provided.
| wrycoder wrote:
| If plot plagiarism was a crime or even morally reprehensible,
| half the books in my town library would have to be destroyed.
| HengYeDev wrote:
| The U.S. 3-letter-agencies can put 1984 into the real world
| without copyright issues now
| erikbye wrote:
| You think we are not there and beyond yet?
| sideshowb wrote:
| We took a different direction. No need for violent
| suppression of truth when it's easier to metaphorically bury
| it in bs
| eeZah7Ux wrote:
| A mixture of 1984 (e.g. the endless war) and Brave New
| World (e.g. hype and propaganda).
| deelowe wrote:
| And arguably more so the latter than the former.
| Jon_Lowtek wrote:
| being intellectually drowned in meaningless entertainment
| is the fate of the prols in 1984.
|
| > _There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing
| with proletarian literature, music, drama, and
| entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy
| newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime
| and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films
| oozing with sex, and sentimental songs_
| lukifer wrote:
| "Orwell's 1984... is not a fantasy of the future, but a
| parable of the present."
|
| - Robert Anton Wilson
| netmonk wrote:
| That is why every gov is trying to copy 1984 in this dramatic and
| catastrophic covid19 epidemia. They dont have to pay any fee to
| the original author.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| Can you elaborate? At least here in the USA the government
| responses have been so spotty, inconsistently enforced, and
| half hearted that we seem to have the worst of all outcomes.
| (Elevated death rate, recurring lockdowns, ongoing community
| spread of the virus.)
| choward wrote:
| Copyright lasts way too long.
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