SIVACRACY.NET: Jonathan Lethem goes Open Source

My friend Jonathan Lethem, author of Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn, and a bunch of other great books and stories, has offered some of his stories for remixing and adaptation.

Check out the current Harper's Magazine, in which Jonathan copies and pastes together a series of sentences and paragraphs from such notables as Lewis Hyde, Lawrence Lessig, Kembrew McLeod, and me to make an argument for Free Culture. It's brilliant, but not online yet.

Here is what Jonathan says about his new project:

Introduction

These stories are for filmmakers or dramatists to adapt. They’re available non-exclusively -- meaning other people may be working from the same material -- and the cost is a dollar apiece.

There’s a simple written agreement to sign, which imposes a couple of restrictions, and that's it -- once you've paid your dollar and signed the agreement, you're free to adapt or mutate the story as you please.

Frequently Asked Questions
What gives?

I like art that comes from other art, and I like seeing my stories adapted into other forms. My writing has always been strongly sourced in other voices, and I'm a fan of adaptations, apropriations, collage, and sampling.

I recently explored some of these ideas in an essay for Harper's Magazine. As I researched that essay I came more and more to believe that artists should ideally find ways to make material free and available for reuse. This project is a (first) attempt to make my own art practice reflect that belief.

My thinking along these lines has been strongly influenced by Open Source theory and the Free Culture movement, and by Lewis Hyde's book, The Gift ...