What is the cultural value of illegal works that violate the copyrights of popular fiction? Why do they persist despite clear, stringent intellectual property laws? Drawing upon the disciplines of new media, law, and literary studies, Illegal Literature argues that recent emergence of “extralegal” works--texts often representative of subcultural elements--function as a crucial part of a system designed to spur the evolution of culture. Over the course of four chapters, this book: reconsiders subcultural voices relegated to the periphery in cultural studies, and articulates the need for conside ... More

What is the cultural value of illegal works that violate the copyrights of popular fiction? Why do they persist despite clear, stringent intellectual property laws? Drawing upon the disciplines of new media, law, and literary studies, Illegal Literature argues that recent emergence of “extralegal” works--texts often representative of subcultural elements--function as a crucial part of a system designed to spur the evolution of culture. Over the course of four chapters, this book: reconsiders subcultural voices relegated to the periphery in cultural studies, and articulates the need for considering how infrastructure--in the form of legal policy and network distribution--slows or accelerates the rate of cultural change; analyzes the relationship between intellectual property rights and American literature in two recent copyright disputes; compares American fan fiction and Japanese dōjinshi to illustrate how infrastructure and legal climates, dependent on copyright policy and distribution methods, detracts from or encourages fledgling creativity; and draws a connection between open source software programming and literary development. In a media ecology inundated by unauthorized materials, Illegal Literature argues that the proliferation of unsanctioned texts may actually benefit the literary and cultural development. This book addresses audiences from popular cultural studies, legal studies, literary studies, and new media studies.