Re: An "entirely original" contribution (Was: copyright expiration...)

On Fri, 11 Sep 1998, Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
>
> As soon as one writes a novel, one is using a non-original form.

But is it the form that determines copyrightability? I have more than strong doubts!

> The best example of "original" writing is If On a Winter's Night a
> Traveller... by Italo Calvino. Each chapter is a conscious imitation
> of a different style of writing, as if by different authors' lost
> books.
>
> Its "originality" consists entirely of its "imitativeness".

The ideas are original, the content is presumably original and imitating other authors can also be original. So where is the problem with originality?

Moritz Roettinger
<moritz.roettinger[_at_]dg23.cec.be> Received on Sat Sep 12 1998 - 17:24:06 GMT