stephen

i take it as a typo but 'the poet' lacking a 'truth brush' is a delightful
notion.

But, to the point, briefly, is this a just summary of general feelings;
a) copyright restricts circulation.
b) copyright is necessary to protect authors against sharks.

if that, or something like it, is what the issue boils down to then really we
shd be pooling our collective lightbulbs to find and lobby for a formulation
that retains author protection but allows ease of circulation for bona fide
interest.

david

pain wrote:

> Copyright should not be taken so lightly. The various conventions and Acts
> relating to copyright law came about because writers were being ripped off
> in the 19thC. That some of these writers were wealthy is not in dispute, the
> point is that the law provides protection for all writers irrespective of
> their situation, that includes those on the list.  While I abhor the cases
> like the John Clare manuscript travesty, I do do think that we should do
> away with the law in its entirety.
>
> As to poets. I read a funny essay by Liang Shih-chiu translated by Shih
> Chao-ying (Taipei 1953.)
>
> Some one remarked, "A poet in history may appear to be sanctified, a poet
> living next door is a joke."
>
> When we visit the thatched cottage of Tu Fu beside the Wan Hua Creek, it is
> a pleasure to ecall the days when the poet pawned his clothes to buy wine,
> reciting his own verse to the accompaniment of the bubbling brook and
> setting the tune for poets of his time. But the picture of Tu-Fu indulging
> himself in barbecued beef and distilled liquor which eventually killed him
> at Leeyang was not an edifying one.
> As no poet is ever a regular visitor of his barber, he is liable to look
> like a mop, a Pekinese and an artist. If he should wear Chinese clothes, he
> would look like a blind fortune teller, with his shoes caked with mud; if he
> should wear Western clothes he would look like a White Russian peddler of
> blankets, coated with dust.
>
> He will appeal to the Muse on discovering a tick under his own shirt front.
>
> A man who had a poet for a neighbor told me that once he had the occasion to
> travel with his poetic neighbor, the poet did not bring any truth brush
> along, stating that his instrument had been left home for the use of his
> wife. On being asked, "Do you two share the use of one tooth brush?", the
> poet countered in astonishment, "Do you have a toothbrush each?"
>
> pp.231-233




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