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The literary estate of a deceased
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
consists mainly of the copyright and other
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, c ...
rights of published works, including
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed work, and papers of intrinsic literary interest such as correspondence or personal diaries and records. In
academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
, the German term ''
Nachlass ''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound in German: ''nach'' means "after ...
'' for the legacy of papers is often used.


Literary executor

A literary executor is a person acting on behalf of beneficiaries (e.g. family members, a designated charity, a research library or archive) under a deceased author's
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...
. The executor is responsible for entering into contracts with publishers, collecting royalties, maintaining copyrights, and (where appropriate) arranging for the deposit of letters. According to ''Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide'' (1990, UK) "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate. One example of this is the appointment of a literary executor to deal with literary effects ... Since the literary estate is a legacy to the author's
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially ...
s, the management of it in financial terms is a responsibility of trust. The position of literary
executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...
extends beyond the monetary aspect, though: appointment to such a position, perhaps informally, is often a matter of the author's choice during his or her lifetime. If a sympathetic and understanding friend is in the position of literary executor, there can be conflict: what is to be managed is not just a portfolio of intellectual property but a posthumous reputation. Wishes of the deceased author may have been clearly expressed but are not always respected. Family members often express strong feelings about privacy of the dead. For example, biographical writing is likely to be of a quite different authority if it is carried out with access to private papers. The literary executor then becomes a gatekeeper.


Examples

Examples of literary executors include Sir Edward Marsh for
Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an E ...
, Robert Baldwin Ross for
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
,
Robert Hayward Barlow Robert Hayward Barlow (May 18, 1918 – January 1 or 2, 1951Joshi & Schultz (2007): p. xx.) was an American author, avant-garde poet, anthropologist and historian of early Mexico, and expert in the Nahuatl language. He was a correspondent and ...
for H. P. Lovecraft,
Rush Rhees Rush Rhees (; 19 March 1905 – 22 May 1989) was an American philosopher. He is principally known as a student, friend, and literary executor of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. With G. E. M. Anscombe he was co-editor of Wittgenstein's pos ...
, G. H. von Wright and
G. E. M. Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, ...
for
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consider ...
,
Otto Nathan Otto Nathan (1893–1987) was an economist who taught at Princeton University (1933–35), New York University (1935–42), Vassar College (1942–44), and Howard University (1946-52). Nathan was a close friend of Albert Einstein for many years a ...
for
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Regine Olsen Regine Schlegel (née Olsen; 23 January 1822 – 18 March 1904) was a Danish woman who was engaged to the philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard from September 1840 to October 1841. Olsen's relationship with Kierkegaard exerted a crucial i ...
for
Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , , ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on ...
, Paul Williams for
Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his ...
, and John H. Shen-Sampas for
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian anc ...
. A particularly notorious example is
Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche (10 July 1846 – 8 November 1935) was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894. Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brothe ...
for
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his care ...
, as she resorted to fraud to make her brother's ''Nachlass'' more compatible with Nazi ideology. An exceptionally productive example is that of
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as ...
. Although he did not originally intend that the stenographs of his thousands of lectures be published, he relented and named his second wife,
Marie Steiner-von Sivers Marie Steiner-von Sivers Some sources cite birthname as Marie von Sivers, Marie Sievers, or Marie von Sievers (14 March 1867 – 27 December 1948) was a Baltic German actress, the second wife of Rudolf Steiner and one of his closest colleague ...
, to direct his ''Nachlass'', which has produced more than three hundred volumes since his death in 1925. Older examples of such appointments, such as
Kenelm Digby Sir Kenelm Digby (11 July 1603 – 11 June 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, astrologer and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist. For his versatility, he is ...
for
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
, are essentially editorial rather than legal. A contemporary case is Christopher Tolkien's work on
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and '' The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawl ...
's papers. A notable example is the case of
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...
, who left no will. His friend
Max Brod Max Brod ( he, מקס ברוד; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a German-speaking Bohemian, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is best remembered as the friend and biog ...
assumed the function of literary executor, though most of the literary estate was legally owned by Marianne Steiner and Věra Saudková.


See also

*''
Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale The Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI) was founded in 1878 in Paris. Victor Hugo was the honorary president and founder of the association. The group gave itself the objective of creating an international convention for th ...
'' *
Authors' rights "Author's rights" is a term frequently used in connection with laws about intellectual property. The term is considered as a direct translation of the French term ''droit d’auteur'' (also German ''Urheberrecht''). It was first (1777) promote ...
*
Backlist A backlist is a list of older books available from a publisher. This is opposed to newly-published titles, which is sometimes known as the frontlist. Business Building a strong backlist has traditionally been considered the best method to produ ...
* Copyright protection for fictional characters * Digital inheritance *''
Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. ''Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.'' was a 2014 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ''(755 F.3d 496''.'')'', in response to an appeal filed by the defendants against the 2013 ruling of the U.S. District Court for No ...
'' * *'' Société Plon et autres v. Pierre Hugo et autres'' *'' Suntrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co.''


References

{{reflist Copyright law Academia Legal professions Intellectual property law legal terminology Copyright law legal terminology