Posted on 12/22/2020 9:23:43 AM PST by Borges
On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain,1 where they will be free for all to use and build upon. These works include books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (in the original German), silent films featuring Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, and music ranging from the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown to songs by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, W.C. Handy, and Fats Waller.
This is not just the famous last line from The Great Gatsby. It also encapsulates what the public domain is all about. A culture is a continuing conversation between present and past. On Public Domain Day, we all have a “green light,” in keeping with the Gatsby theme, to use one more year of that rich cultural past, without permission or fee.
Works from 1925 were supposed to go into the public domain in 2001, after being copyrighted for 75 years. But before this could happen, Congress hit a 20-year pause button and extended their copyright term to 95 years.2 Now the wait is over.
In 2021, there is a lot to celebrate. 1925 brought us some incredible culture. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. The New Yorker magazine was founded. The literature reflected both a booming economy, whose fruits were unevenly distributed, and the lingering upheaval and tragedy of World War I. The culture of the time reflected all of those contradictory tendencies. The BBC’s Culture website suggested that 1925 might be “the greatest year for books ever,” and with good reason. It is not simply the vast array of famous titles. The stylistic innovations produced by books such as Gatsby, or The Trial, or Mrs. Dalloway marked a change in both the tone and the substance of our literary culture, a broadening of the range of possibilities available to writers, while characters such as Jay Gatsby, Hemingway’s Nick Adams, and Clarissa Dalloway still resonate today.
How will people celebrate this trove of cultural material? The Internet Archive will add books, movies, music, and more to its online library. HathiTrust will make tens of thousands of titles from 1925 available in its digital repository. Google Books will offer the full text of books from that year, instead of showing only snippet views or authorized previews. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can afford to publicly perform, or rearrange, the music. Educators and historians can share the full cultural record. Creators can legally build on the past—reimagining the books, making them into films, adapting the songs.
I never understood what made those writings ‘Classic’ or worth reading the first time, let alone worth keeping in my personal library.
So many of those writers were scum in their personal beliefs and private actions.
As a teenager, I despised them and their writings. As an adult, that feeling only increased.
And it wasn’t a, “well, their times were different” type of thing. Their writings just plain sucked.
Yes, my writing is terrible. LOL
I tend to think that a lot of the ‘classics’ are created by the Academia of that time and the media (of that time) went along with the flow until the everyday man and women decided to like their writing.
Junk.
There are a whole bunch of writers listed there. Which are you talking about? The Great Gatsby was a flop upon release. It was given a boost because it was part of a package the U.S. military sent it to enlisted men during WW2.
And a Broadway stage version before that...
https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-great-gatsby-9991
Maybe I should say it wasn’t as popular as his earlier novels.
Pretty much anything written by Fitzgerald and for sure Hemingway.
It’s not just related to the male writers of that era. I’m totally lacking in coming up with any name of a female writer that I enjoyed reading.
While Dante’s Hell was much heavier (and scarier, to myself), it was better reading. Of course, that came wayyyyyyy before their time.
You know, I don’t know what was scarier....reading Dante’s Hell as a non-Christian or as a Christian..... Definitely should be reading for those in High School...
Pretty much anything written by Fitzgerald and for sure Hemingway.
It’s not just related to the male writers of that era. I’m totally lacking in coming up with any name of a female writer that I enjoyed reading.
While Dante’s Hell was much heavier (and scarier, to myself), it was better reading. Of course, that came wayyyyyyy before their time.
You know, I don’t know what was scarier....reading Dante’s Hell as a non-Christian or as a Christian..... Definitely should be reading for those in High School...
Hermingway’s short stories are wonderful. Later on he wrote a lot of sub par stuff. “The Great Gatsby” is worth reading for the sheer lyricism. Female writers...auten? the Brontes?
When was it that Mickey Mouse burst onto the scene?
"He was great!"
Now will back issues fro The Rudder or Popular Mechanics from those years finally be made available for download?
(If you like neat projects such old journals are really well worth it)
Ah. The Bronte Sisters!
Now, I did like their writing. Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre” reflected the ways people told others to live yet they lived differently - much like today’s Elites. It was a good read of life!
“Wuthering Heights” by Emily was very heavy. Depressing, is the word, I would use when describing it.
I should try a read of “Agnes Grey,” later in the Spring, I think. I have a problem reading long/depressing books in Winter.
Their writings, though, were much earlier than the timespan of Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I wasn’t even thinking of them when thinking of female writers during era of Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
I think I’ve mentioned Louisa May Alcott. She’s my all time favorite because she’s the first book handed to me by a librarian that I can recall. Her Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins, et al...caused me to laugh and cry as a 8-9 year old.
The Bronte Sisters, were excellent writers... glad you mentioned them!
If you know anyone who has a copy of them, nothing would stop you from scanning them and posting them on the internet once the copyright expires.
I seriously doubt the publisher will do so.
Project Gutenberg scanned (and proofread) a bunch of Sci-Fi Magazines that had expired from a copyright perspective. They are available on the linked site.
Someone who is interested in things like these older Popular Mechanics magazines could do the same thing, or donate them to PG, and they might well do it for you.
Always, by Irving Berlin
Sweet Georgia Brown, by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey
Works by Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues,” including Army Camp Harmony Blues (with Hooks Tilford) and Shave ’Em Dry (with William Jackson)
Looking for a Boy, by George & Ira Gershwin (from the musical Tip-Toes)
Manhattan, by Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers
Ukulele Lady, by Gus Kahn & Richard Whiting
Yes Sir, That’s My Baby, by Gus Kahn & Walter Donaldson
Works by ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton, including Shreveport Stomps and Milenberg Joys (with Paul Mares, Walter Melrose, & Leon Roppolo)
Works by W.C. Handy, including Friendless Blues (with Mercedes Gilbert), Bright Star of Hope (with Lillian A. Thorsten), and When the Black Man Has a Nation of His Own (with J.M. Miller)
Works by Duke Ellington, including Jig Walk and With You (both with Joseph “Jo” Trent)
Works by ‘Fats’ Waller, including Anybody Here Want To Try My Cabbage (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), Ball and Chain Blues (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), and Campmeetin’ Stomp
Works by Bessie Smith, the “Empress of the Blues,” including Dixie Flyer Blues, Tired of Voting Blues, and Telephone Blues
Works by Lovie Austin, including Back Biting Woman’s Blues, Southern Woman’s Blues, and Tennessee Blues
Works by Sidney Bechet, including Waltz of Love (with Spencer Williams), Naggin’ at Me (with Rousseau Simmons), and Dreams of To-morrow (with Rousseau Simmons)
Works by Fletcher Henderson, including Screaming the Blues (with Fay Barnes)
Works by Sippie Wallace, including Can Anybody Take Sweet Mama’s Place (with Clarence Williams)
Works by Mrs. H.H.A. (Amy) Beach, including Lord of the Worlds Above, Op. 109 (words by Isaac Watts, 1674–1748), The Greenwood, Op. 110 (words by William Lisle Bowles, 1762–1850), The Singer, Op. 117 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965), and Song in the Hills, Op. 117, No. 3 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965)
Actually, at least in the case of The Rudder (As well as many other things) they’ve already been scanned by the Hathaway Trust, IIRC, however it has been years since they updated the files you can download.
Apparently Irving Berlin declined Steven Spilberg’s request to use the song “Always” in the latter’s 1989 film of the same name. He said he had “other plans” for it. He was 100 at the time.
The original copyright act of 1790 had the period being 14 years, with an option to renew for a second 14 years. We should go back to that.
Steamboat Willie was from 1928, so it looks like Disney will have to start writing checks to Congress very soon to extend the copyright again, just like last time.
If we didn't have the best congresscritters that money can buy, we would.
28 years is plenty for any work. I'd even be half inclined to let them keep renewing things a couple of times, if there was a substantial charge for doing so. Anything that is not generating enough revenue to be worth renewing should be in the public domain.
In the day of the Bronte sisters, novels written by women were often published under male pen names. And by the way, the Bronte novels have been out of copyright for many years. Charlotte Bronte published under the name of Currer Bell. Although Wuthering Heights is better written (written by Emily Bronte), Charlotte’s novel was profoundly influential in terms of chronicling the moral and spiritual development of an innocent and unworldly young woman. It also led to reform in divorce laws which at that time were quite harsh and cruel. Do not belittle the Bronte sisters, despite the gothic melodrama, they were very very important. Other woman of the era, such as Jane Austen with her satirical sense of humor wrote clever and very entertaining books that have stood the test of time and are still published today.
Many women of the 19th and early 20th century wrote many wonderful children’s books and books for teens and while not great literature, had a great impact on young lives.
My personal favorite authors are the Oxford Mythmakers, and of them my favorite is Dorothy Sayers. She was a wonderful writer, clever, erudite with a very dry subtle wit.
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