MobileRead April 2014 Book Club Nominations

[WT Sharpe]

This is very exciting news. As some of you may know, when The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in the July 1980 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, it was heavily censored by the magazine's editors, who removed approximately 500 words (although still not enough to stop the uproar that followed). The censored version remained the only version available to the reading public until 2011, when Harvard University Press released the The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray; fully restored to the author's original vision, including the scenes of graphic homosexual content that the editors, fearing the wrath of offended Victorians, expunged.

It can be found (for a surprisingly low price) at Amazon (US), and at Barnes & Noble, and at De Gruyter.

[pynch]

I third The Picture of Dorian Gray (which, by the way, is also available on MR in the Complete Works epub).

A question to the mods: MR operating strictly under the Life+70 rule would mean that Oscar Wilde’s text of The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray can be uploaded here. Is that right?

(Just curious! I won’t do it as it is protected in Germany for 25 years.)

[samhy]

Does classics mean public domain only?

[issybird]

I wasn't interested in rereading Dorian Grey, but you sold me with this. Thirded.

ETA: Slow.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by samhy

Does classics mean public domain only?

No, it doesn't.

[samhy]

Thanks.

Then I nominate Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Amazon US

[John F]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

This is very exciting news. As some of you may know, when The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in the July 1980 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, it was heavily censored by the magazine's editors, who removed approximately 500 words (although still not enough to stop the uproar that followed). The censored version remained the only version available to the reading public until 2011, when Harvard University Press released the The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray; fully restored to the author's original vision, including the scenes of graphic homosexual content that the editors, fearing the wrath of offended Victorians, expunged.

It can be found (for a surprisingly low price) at Amazon (US), and at Barnes & Noble, and at De Gruyter.

Glancing at wiki, it looks like there were three versions? An 1890 version, a longer 1891 version, and the 2011 version?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by samhy

Does classics mean public domain only?

Over the years, the members of the MobileRead Book Club have seemingly decided that United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography can be equally and fittingly applied to the word "classic" as well: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by samhy

Thanks.

Then I nominate Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.



Amazon US

Try again. BTDT.

Originally Posted by pynch

I third The Picture of Dorian Gray (which, by the way, is also available on MR in the Complete Works epub).

A question to the mods: MR operating strictly under the Life+70 rule would mean that Oscar Wilde’s text of The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray can be uploaded here. Is that right?

(Just curious! I won’t do it as it is protected in Germany for 25 years.)

Interesting question. Maybe that explains the $2.84 price for the ebook at Amazon?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pynch

...A question to the mods: MR operating strictly under the Life+70 rule would mean that Oscar Wilde’s text of The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray can be uploaded here. Is that right?...[/SIZE]

Unfortunately, no, as Nicholas Frankel, who is currently Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, is listed as the editor of the uncensored version.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pynch

I third The Picture of Dorian Gray (which, by the way, is also available on MR in the Complete Works epub).

A question to the mods: MR operating strictly under the Life+70 rule would mean that Oscar Wilde’s text of The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray can be uploaded here. Is that right?

(Just curious! I won’t do it as it is protected in Germany for 25 years.)

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Unfortunately, no, as Nicholas Frankel, who is currently Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, is listed as the editor of the uncensored version.

I just looked it up to be sure. It was copyrighted by Professor Frankel in 2011. The U.S. Copyright number is TX0007384271.

[pynch]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

It was copyrighted by Professor Frankel in 2011. The U.S. Copyright number is TX0007384271.

How is that relevant? Oscar Wilde is still the author and I don’t see how U.S. copyright plays any role here. To clarify: my question was if it can be uploaded on MR and not if it could be legally downloaded from MR in the U.S.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pynch

How is that relevant? Oscar Wilde is still the author and I don’t see how U.S. copyright plays any role here. To clarify: my question was if it can be uploaded on MR and not if it can be legally downloaded from MR in the U.S.

Just to be clear: The Picture of Dorian Gray (the one that's been with us for 120 years) is in the public domain. The original uncensored version as edited by Nicholas Frankel is fully protected by U.S. copyright laws.

[pynch]

By U.S. copyright laws, yes, of course. But not by Swiss law, as far as I know, which is the one relevant for MR.