Influential Works

[Last Updated: 20070313]

This page will be augmented and edited regularly, at least when observed over any sufficiently long period. It is intended as a repository for inspirational works I have found - works which will continue to drive the focus and writing on this website:

  • Jonathan Lethem, “The Ecstasy of Influence,” from Harper’s Magazine, February 2007.

    A breathtaking essay on the derivative nature of art and an examination of how copyright is an ongoing active debate, which in its present state, is inarguably doing harm to the common good.

    A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by ideas that are taken for granted. The character of an era hangs upon what needs no defense. In this regard, few of us question the contemporary construction of copyright. It is taken as a law, both in the sense of a universally recognizable moral absolute, like the law against murder, and as naturally inherent in our world, like the law of gravity. In fact, it is neither. Rather, copyright is an ongoing social negotiation, tenuously forged, endlessly revised, and imperfect in its every incarnation.