I del.icio.used this article earlier today, but wow. Read The Ecstasy of Influence right now. It’s by Jonathan Lethem in a way cool way, make sure you read to the end. It’s also way long, but includes this crystallized mineral of shiny colour, which I reproduce here to entice you:
The dream of a perfect systematic remuneration is nonsense. I pay rent with the price my words bring when published in glossy magazines and at the same moment offer them for almost nothing to impoverished literary quarterlies, or speak them for free into the air in a radio interview. So what are they worth? What would they be worth if some future Dylan worked them into a song? Should I care to make such a thing impossible?
Yeah it’s about copyright and creative commons but it’s also about art and really gets to the heart of the matter. If I ever teach again, this essay will be required reading.
Advertisement
