When reproduction overwhelms originality, authorship itself becomes a scarce resource.
Evidence
DeLillo’s novel follows reclusive novelist Bill Gray as he leaves seclusion to negotiate the release of a hostage poet from a terrorist group in Lebanon. The book is preoccupied with the production of authorial mystique, the photograph as identity-document, and the way mass reproduction (Mao’s image, terrorist videos) competes with the novel for cultural authority. For IP scholarship on photography, image rights, and the post-Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith debate, DeLillo offers a literary diagnosis of what happens when reproduction overwhelms originality. The novel is also a study of authorship as scarce resource in an attention economy increasingly saturated by machine-generated content. — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 524
Categorization
- XREF: Ties to the Warhol v. Goldsmith IP debate already in this book and to the chapter’s post-2020 AI-and-authorship syllabus. — connects to: Works saturated with cultural references require massive licensing of cultural memory. — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 2154; Erica embodies the failure of authorship under market realities; The absence of citational practice in AI undermines recognition of original creators’ contributions. — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 295 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Erica embodies the failure of authorship under market realities
#expands(0.70) - Identical text can differ in originality depending on authorial context.
#expands(0.65) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 2029 - The absence of citational practice in AI undermines recognition of original creators’ contributions.
#exemplifies(0.60) — Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna, The AI Con- How to Fight Big Tech’s…, 295 - Relying on AI for edits can diminish authentic creative expression.
#qualifies(0.50) — Joanna Stern, I Am Not a Robot- My Year Using AI to…, 48