Author talk:James Joyce

Why can't Finnegans Wake be included? Is there a copyright reason or is it the simple difficulty of getting the book on wikisource? I know it might be easier for readers if wikisource had the book and not the page the reader is directed to.


 * It's still under copyright in the US and Britain.--Prosfilaes (talk) 02:06, 16 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, it is under copyright. See here. Ingram (talk) 02:41, 16 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I think USA and UK follow the rule life+70 years of copyright protection (I'm not a lawyer myself and this isn't legal advice).
 * So Finnegans Wake might be in the public domain now (copyright having expired on Jan 1st, 2012). --Ousia (talk) 20:37, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Finnegans Wake in Public Domain?(as well as what version that are in the public domain to use)
I'm not that familiar with Wikisource's policy, but I'm fairly certain that even if any full length publication of Finnegans Wake is not in public domain(which I have doubts of, as I'm aware of at least half a dozen sites(FWEET, etc.) that have had the entire source online for years), There is the version that James Joyce published in serialized form in the literary magazine transition, under the title Work in Progress.

What I was wondering about policy is does Wikisource acknowledge all versions of a work produced by an author, or is there a bit of editorialization in choosing "a correct version"? another question assuming that other versions are considered valid is the lines of versions not directly sanctioned by the author(posthumous revisions by the publisher, or Academic revisionism using author notes etc)? Akaibu1 (talk) 23:09, 9 December 2023 (UTC)


 * English Wikisource follows US copyright laws, according to which a work enters public domain 95 years after publication. Finnegans Wake was published in 1939, so it will become elligible to be added here in 2034. However, the Work in Progress was published in 1926 and so it can be added here. The best way is to upload scans of the magazine, create an index page and profread individual pages of the work (not necessarily the whole issues of the magazine, the pages containing the Work in Progress would be enough). The process is described at Help:Proofreading and somebody will surely help if needed. We do not accept copy-pastes from other internet websites.
 * As for versions of a work: English Wikisource accepts individual editions of a work and there is no restriction on the number of editions of the same work that can be added here. Editions containing some additions by other authors like revisions, notes etc. are accepted providing the additions are in the public domain too. --Jan Kameníček (talk) 00:10, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
 * 2034? The page says that it copyrighted until 2035. I've seen places say the stance is Death + 80 years, Death + 81 years, and others, and I believe this is due to the changes of the law in the last century. I've also seen cases of various books that would normally be in copyright still being judged to not be due to one reason or another, such as the laws on the book(pardon the pun) at the time of publication and such, are any such factors a case for Finnegans Wake being out of copyright? I do believe something like that is truly the case as from my understanding the Joyce Estate was quite litigious for even the most minor and academic of uses(vaguely recall some academic being denied because the Estate didn't like their collage sports team or such), which again, seems to be no longer the case for the various online sources that have the entire text.
 * If for some reason I am still mistaken on the matter I shall endeavor to do as suggested and work on the version published as WIP(It's probably up somewhere on Internet Archive) Akaibu1 (talk) 00:27, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I am sorry, of course 2035 (copyrighted until 2034, so it can be added in 2035).
 * Various countries have various copyright laws. Thus in Great Britain and in the EU works are copyrighted until 70 years after author's death, which means that Finnegans Wake is in public domain in these countries. But, as mentioned above, English Wikisource follows US rules, which protect the work until 95 years after publication. There are some exceptions for works published in the US whose copyright was not renewed, but unfortunately Finnegans Wake's US copyright was renewed by George Joyce & Lucia Joyce in 1966, and so there is no help. --Jan Kameníček (talk) 01:05, 10 December 2023 (UTC)