Eighteenth-Century Studies Volume 17, Number + Summer, 1984 “Tue Patsinn Won re EtonteeNmi Cerny IA Sirciat Ist Contents Inaction, by Rava Bis ‘The Commerce of Letters: The Std of the Eighteenth Cntury Bk Tete, y Jons Frac The Genius a the Copyright: Feonami and pa 1 he Emergence the Author” By MANA Contin ‘De fcto Copyright? Fieing’s Woks in Parnes, Sounding the Literary Marko in Prerevsationry France, by sander” Journals in he 1770 Tater Cetin and Rash Pitce nthe Prerestionry French res ns Ep. Nov, Owing tothe numer of esas here are no book eviews in Bes tnd wllrecun nthe eat wae The Genius and the Copyright: Economic and Legal Conditions of the Emergence of the "Author" MARTHA WOODMANSEE Book, citer numero sect of white pa por that hve been sich ogetherin sah "say tat they can be filled ith mg t's bighly fal and canteen iste sgn cet of pm et Tenor te for presenting the wath. ‘en ead and recap. Many pepe stork on this mare tore ts comple at ‘Chola and he wren, he perma the {ype unde. the typeset athe pier. {he peotreader, he pubober. the bosk tinder sometines even tbe ger and the {eby ths branch of manulactare Allymenes Oeconomisches Texto 1755) a eh Snkalntes otter cea LLOWTEENTHLCENTURY STUDIES Txcoxte monary usace an author is an individual who is solely responsible-andtherelore exclusively deserving of ereit-Tor the Proietion aa wsigue work. Although the validity of this concept has been putin question by struturalist and posstructuralsts who regard st as no mote than a socially convenient fiction Tor the lis fustic codes and convention that make a text possible, its gees has ceceived celatively litle attention despite Michel Foucault's sluervation that it would be worth examining how the author be ame individualized ina eutue like ours, what statu he as been inven, at what moment studies of authenticity and attribution Began, tn what kind of system of valorization the author was involved at ‘shat point we began to recount the lives of authors rather than of heroes, and how ths fundamental eategory of the-ma-and:his- Work cries began.” Foucault's questions go 1 the heart ofthe prob: lem that wil concern me i this essay. Tn my view the “author” in its modern sense ja eatvely ecent invention. Specially iis the product ofthe rise inthe eighteenth ‘century ofa ew group of individuals: writers who sought to earn thei vlna frm the sale of their writings tothe new and apy expanding reading public. In Germany threw group individuals Found itself without any ofthe safeguards fr is labors that today are codified in copyright laws, In response to this problems, and it fn effort to estat the economic viability of living By the pen, these writers set about redefining the nature of writing, Their e- Actions on this subject are what, by and large, ave the concept of authorship its odern form.” Inthe Renaissance and inthe heritage ofthe Renaissance inthe first half ofthe eighteenth century the “author” was an unstable marrage of two dstinct concepts. He was st ad foremost a eral ‘an that i, he was master ofa body af ules, preserved and handed down to hn in hetoric and poctis, for manipulating traditional ‘materials ordrto achieve the effect prescribed by the cultivated Audience of the eourt to which he owed both bis livelihood and latus, However, there were those rare moments in hterature rc ates Bed’ es i epee nt ad a ‘THE GENIUS AND THE COPYRIGHT nm 1o which this concept did not seem to do justice. When writer managed to rise above the requirements of the occasion to achieve something higher, much more than craftsmanship seemed 0 be involved. To explain such moments a new concent was introduce: the writer was sid tobe inspired by some muse, or even by God, “These two conceplionSf the writer~as craftsman and asinepred — would seem 10 be incompatible with each ater: yet they coexisted, fatten between the covers of ingle treatise, until well ito the eighteenth century 11s noteworthy that in neither ofthese conceptions the writer regarded as distinctly and personally responsible for his creation. Whether as. craftsman or as inspired, the writer ofthe Renaissance and neoclassical period is always a vehicle or inscument: garded 454 craftsman, he is skilled manipulator of predefined strategies for achieving gals dictated by his audience; understood 3s inspired, he is equally the subject of independent forces, forthe inspired moments of is work —that which is novel and most excelent in tare not any more the writer'ssole doing than ae is tore routine aspects, but ate instead atebutable toa higher, external agency — iF not to a muse, then 1o divine dictation * ighlecath-centuty theorists departed Irom this compound mode! of wating in to significant ways. They minimized the element of| ‘aftsmanship (in some instances they simply discarded it) in favor ofthe clement of inspiation, and they internalized the source of| ‘that inspiration. That i, inspiration came to be regarded as ema ‘ating aot from ouside or above, but from within the writer hin “Inspiration” came ts be explicate in terms of original genius, with the consequence thatthe inspired work was made peculiarly and stnetvely the produet-and the property—of the writer ove of uo empaths ie cea ee ie set ite ha togh te Rennes inte e ighcet “FT meaty docsmeatd ia Johane Gore Salers etry fx “Dicker” (Post) ‘Ranney rt tau P34 A shee wi a Hare“This skotch ofthe development ofthe eoneept ofthe write since the Renaissance (vhich, to be sure, have oversimplified) may be illustrated by two statements, one made by Alexander Pope (6881744) atthe very beginning of thie dreegent ant anor by Willam Wordsworth (1970-1850) speaking from the other side flit, As the fst najor English poct 10 achieve wealth and status ‘nithout the aid of patronage but emirely fam the sale of his write ings Pope stil prafeses the Renasance view of the writer as prmariy craftsman whose task ito wtlize the tols of his erat for thee culturally determined ends. Ina Tamiliae passage from his Essay on Criticism (1711) Pope states that the fnetion of the poet is not to invent novelties, but to expess afresh tuts hallowed by teahiton: “rue wit ature to advantage dred Wha owas thought but eer so ell expres Something those uth convinced at sight we That gives back te age o ut mind! (297-300) However, Pope also incorporates in the Essay the other seemingly anomalous view ofthe writers subject to “happiness aswell as ‘cre" as capable, that of achieving something that has never been ahicve before Ths the pot ean accomplish only by voating the rls of ie craft Some beaut yet no precept can declare, For there’ «happiness ell as cre Musi eseales pty in each ‘Ave tunes races which no methods tach, ‘And which: str hand alone ean reseh Te nere the ras at far enough exten (Since rues were ade but fo promote tei end) Some uch sense answer wo the fll {Ty item poponed that Heese ale ‘Thon Pogue's neuer way oe Greats smetimes ay lorouly fend rari Pea hele Rea Saunt ted Adu, ce ita Phew sae Plato nen Me hte Be Kean, ps ‘And sew uals tae critics dare ot mend: From sug tounds with brave dso prt, ‘An stat a prace Beyond he feach of se (141-88) ‘Such moments of inspiration, in which the post anuiches « grace beyond the reach of the rules and poste stateges that he com- mands as the master ofa craft, are sill the exception for Pope. However, fom the margins of theory, where the reside inthe Estey atthe beginning of the century, these moments of inspiration move, Inthe course of time, to the ceater of fflccion onthe nature of writing. And as they are increasingly credited tothe write’ owe beni, they transform the writer into «unique individual uniquely ‘sponsible fora unique produet. That frm a mere) vehicle of preorained truths truths as ordained either by universal human $grcement orb some higher agency the writer becomes an author (Lat. auctor, originator, founder, ereato) Its as such a writer that Wordsworth perceives himself. Dis: cussing the “unremitting hostility” with which the Lyrical Ballads Were reeived by the erties, Wordsworth observes that if there Be ‘one conclusion” that is “Toreibly pressed upon us" by their disap poking reception, is “that every Author a far as he is great anda the same time orginal, has Had the ask of ereating the Taste by which he is to be enjoyeditaies Wordsworth} Inasmuch as his immediate audience i inevitably attuned tothe products af the Pas, the great weiter who produces something oignal doomed to be misunderstood. Thus ii, according to Wordsworth, that “if very great Poet... in the highest exercise of is genius, before he can be thoroughly enjoyed, has to call forth and o communicate power that is, empower his readers to understand his new work, “this Service, in a stl greater degre, falls upon an original Writer, this Best appearance in the world” (OF gen the only pro the act of ding well what is worty tobe hone a what was pve dane bloe” OF pei ethene at he oly inate sign the widening the sphere of human nesta, fx the ‘kph, honor, sn bene of human hatere: Genie the itedacn $Thow clement ino the inca univrson,ftat hema lowed mn60 HGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES. is the sppiation of powers to objets on which they Mn ot fore been ‘hecsdd, ot the enpoynent of them a suck 8 manners wo produce ‘est hbo waka For Wordsaorth, writing in 115, the genie someone who ds something utterly new, unprecedented or inte radical formulation ‘that he prefers, produces Something that never existed efor. The conception writing to which Wordsworth gies expression ‘had een adumbrited a half century earlier in an essay by Flvard Young, Conjecturs on Original Composition. Young preached orig- Inaltyin pace ol the reigning emplass om the mastery of rules extrapolated Irom classical erature, and he located the source of this eeential qualty inthe poets own genius. His essay atracted felatively lite atention ia England; but in Germany, where i ap- ‘eared in wo separate translations within to Yeats of i publi ation in 1759, thd profound impact. German theorists from Herder and Goethe to Kant and Fcht elaborated the ideas sketched ‘ut by Young and shifted them fom the periphery tose very ceater fof the theory of he arts. (One af the resins for this development, I would suggest is that ‘Young’ ideas answered the pressing need of writers in Geemany 10 stublsh ownership of the products of their labor sas 10 justify legal recognition that ownership in the form of eopyight ln” ‘The relevance of ts ideas to this enterprise had already been sug> gested by Young himself when he enjoined the writer 1 ‘Let aot ret exams, of autboriin,browbest thy easun ito on aeat {ides of typ thysel s everence’ st prefer the native growth ‘thy own mind othe richest mor frm abroad ach bred hes rake us por The an who ths reserences met, il soon fd the stor’ reverence w flow his ova, His harks will Sad distinguished: Sarthe sole popers of them which property alone can confer the noble {ie of anautor iat i fone who Qo ape csurtl) think ad ‘Snes whe ue lavaders ofthe pes how volun nd Fearned ‘Seve wih duc repost be i spoken) ony rend tnd write" sR eer eae eoeh eval en Comat nk OC Bes THE GENIUS AND THE COPYRIGHT a Here, amid the organic analogues for genial creativity that have ‘made tis esy a monument inthe histo of eritism, Young raises Issues of property: he makes a writer’ ownership of his work the ecessar). and even suficient condition for earning the honorific Tite of "author" and he makes such ownership comingent upon & oA original & “The professional writer emerged considerably later in Germany tha in’ England and France. Pope had long ince wetten Ris ay {o fue and fortune in Eland by the time that writers were even beeinning to attempt to ve Irom the sale oftheir writings in Ger san" Ths generation of Lessing (1729-81) was the st to ry to his, but it had litle success. ATter ten yeas of struggle Lessing wats bis brother i 1768 “Take my brotherly advice aod ive up your plan to ive by the pen Bet you become surtry or get on the Tacaly somewhere 1s he Shiv ay to avoid starring seer or laer For me sto fate to ake Stott at. Ins adveng- pt suggesting tha ou sould completely ie up eveything to whch ication and enasdive you” ‘rom the pont of view of the development ofa profession f letter, svat Lessing rosommends is step backward 10 writing as par. Time occupation an activity pursued y the writer as an official of| the court to the degece allowed by the social and ideological as well fs contractual obligations of his oie " In 1770 Lesing himse ‘mould be forced to take such a sep and vo accep a position as court "onthe mere fh rier in German sean ge Hef Sean eer Gehl Ses Backes 3 (rd). ek S25 30 asic ma vie ier tre: erin he. ecient cbied by Hat kets mike vue tht Li each een ee eae Oe pte ws ‘Mesinanne WH ale Ceman othe Bight Conary Cambie cae Chaco Coste Heke, Pu Ril (ern: atau 1 eimai Rise 2g fa Mam Gehan Kirti 18 Jb2 FEIGHTEENTILCENTURY STUDIES librarian in Wolenbel. The other two giants ofthe perio, Fried rich Gottlob Klopstock (1724-1803) and Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813), met with similar fates Despite the rid expansion ofthe marke fr Rraks which began inthe 1770s, the prospects ofthe nest generation of writers dd not improve substantally. as the biographies of writers like Hurger, Moritz, and Schiler attest. Having made a reputation for himself with The Robbe's, which he had published st hit awn expense in 1781, the twentyimo year-old Seller resolved to break hit con nections withthe Duke of Warttemberg.and ty his ck sa profes sional writer. He would later describe the devsion as prevptate, but atthe time Schiller appears to have had Hite idea othe ifld vicissitudes of casting one’s lot with the nw reading public "The publi is now everything to me," he write, nny schol, ny aneregn, my taste find I now bang to it ane ‘hl pace myself his and a aber buna Tone do ea and ‘ther fetes than the deciin of the’ mor of appesting to mo oer ‘frome than the bua spat These high expectations are expressed inthe “Announcement” of Die rheintsche Thale,» periodical conceived by Schiller in 17% when efile wo make i house poet to the Mannheim Nation Theater. The petidical was just theft of series of such eitrial projects that the poet tok on in an elfrt to earn hi ving 28 & writer, Despite his productivity, however, Schiller just barely sue «ceeded in making ends meet; and when his health broke dow fom ‘overwork in 179, he flloned in Lessing's fotsteps and accepted 8 pension from hs Danish admiter, Prince Friedrich Chetan von Schlesis-Holsci-Sonderburg-Augustenbur. (It iin te for of letters adresse this benefactor that On the Aesthele Education Of Man was tis! coneewved in 1798-94) Sehiller embraced the patronage of the prince with much the same enthusiasm that he had displayed in tommending hinwell 10 the public less than decade before. Ina letter to Baggesen, who had been insiumental in securing the pasion, he welcomes it as the “freedom of mind “Yds Seles Saute Mirko Gerard Fe a Hebe GG fer tbhanah Hes BOE a “THE GENIUS AND THE CorYRICHT os {Geis} for which he had so long yearned, "Wo be and to achieve ‘what I can be and acbieve By virue of the powers that have been reted out to me"-something that his “Former circumstances made Utterly impossible.” And electing back upon his srugaes, he con- ‘de tht it 6 imposible inthe Gorman word of eters to sais the set demands of td simultane poocre te minim of support one's ius. {have been sragglinew recone the 0 for eyes ut to make ‘enn some messre poole hs ost me Bel |What made i 0 dificult olive bythe pen in eighteenth-ceatury Germany? As this brief account of writers struggles suggests, Gr rman} found set in transitional phase between the limited po {ronage ofan aristocratic society and the democratic patonage of | the marketplace. With the rise ofthe middle clases, demand for reading material increased steadily, enticing writers to try wo eara ‘lveitoud from the sale of their writings Loa buying public. But ‘most were doomed tobe disappointed, forthe requisite lepal eco nomic, and political arrangements and institutions were not yet in Place fo support the large number of writers who came forward.” What they encountered were the remmants ofan ear social order. “They expected, as professional writers 1 trade i ideas ina country ‘hat id at yet havea fully developed concep of iatellectslprop- ery” Ce TE pn ae tnt eee ie ee Sie eer SBE eae eearetonee mans seth imate me Aue Uae ens “er my hy bred yma ince Pele Eier opie kod cubsy Meatiegi Thncrgue athe Theory of Achebe Autonomy in Eighteenth Cenery Gee“The notion that property an be ideal as well a real, that under certain circumstances person’ ideas ae no Iss his property than his hogs and horses, is ofcourse a modern one. In the country in which Marin Luther had preached that knowledge is God-given {nd ad therefore to be given rely, however, this notion was es pevally slow to tke hold At the otset of the eighteenth cetary ‘ews not generllythoueht thatthe author ofa poem or any other ce of writing possessed rights with regard 1 these prnctsof| his intellectual ebor Writing was considered a-mere vehicle of received ideas which were already inthe public domain, and, as Sich a vehicle, it to, by extension or by analogy, was considered prt of the public domain. In shore, the relationship between the tritcrand his work elected the Renaissance view described above ‘This view found expression inthe institutions of the honorarium, the form in which writes were remunerated, ad the privilege, the ‘only legal arrangement which served to regulate the book trade Unt the ast decade ofthe centary when, one by ons, the German tes began to eauet copyright laws ‘By the middle of the sventecath century it had become custom ary for publishers fer honoraria to the rites whose works hey greed {o print. H would be a mistake, however, to conclude that ‘modest sums of oney paid out in this way represented dre com pensation for thuve work. To the contrary. the definition piven by Zedler’s Universo-Lexikon in 1739 shows, the honorarium was simply token of est Honsririam, seats askoomledgnen of reward, resopsitio, favors Pend sm in roprtin to or equivalent to the eves pera fiers tom pay or wages, which especial determined by 6 acing parties which expres a flaionhip equivalence between wok ad The honorarium s writer might expect to receive for his work bore no relationship tothe exchange value ofthat work but was rather Feanievent halt meee ttre THE GENIUS AND THE COPYRIGHT as “an acknowledgment ofthe writers achivernents—the sum of which began, with time 1 vary in proportion 1 the magnitude of those achievements. As such the honorarium resembled the gifts made to poets by aristocratic patrons. Indeed as Goethe observes in the {welsh book OF Dichtung und Wahrheit Felaionship between teriters and publishers he fist half ofthe eightesath century stl bore a striking resemblance to that which had existed between the post and his patron, At that ime, Goethe writes: shone ns ose wimp ein. sk Ton. Rowevr wi tguded a someting wcrel/and wy comiered Sie Tnuny toasty or borg fo a Boman” Autos ad fublshes eyed amt emasogscpaciy. They appeared at mre {Spon and Son The sui, wom aon ter let were Sy Somered by the pice gn cel people ad wee ‘Sh accra paused tll tars thence ‘Siete inne bk ese towel es Tih ie tend Tak and Capped Smeelesvanageaflcne Jel heh ok ern the pte pct eet femaied icin bent guloumResprcs gon am pase Seton incu: Biot ind Gotached rained ume ens {spate Ine Sunes and memann areata 0a he prt Saray pits wee mt ya all ag” “The “beauiful equilibrium” described by Goethe eallapsed, haw ever, asthe market for Itrature expanded sufciently to induce triers to try to make an oveupation of i They began to compare “Their own very modest i not downright meagee condition with the wealth of the affluent Book dealer,” Goethe continues, they comsidered bow peat was the fae of «Gellert oa Rabene, and oni edocs a igen hs burden hugh some oe employment Even the average and the leer laminas fll an tense deste to better {hes crcumstanen, to mae thats tdependent ofthe pulses Frenually writers would demand flostuating honoraria based on sales (ce. royals); the eighteenth ceatury, however, aft stm cating drt Nan ha ann