Gifts and Commons

25 years ago, before Creative Commons and a host of today's copyfights, Berkman fellow Lewis Hyde's book "The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property" was released.  In it, he discusses the shaping of a gift of art, creativity and generosity.  From its introduction:

"...It is the assumption of this book that a work of art is a gift, not a commodity. Or, to state the modern case with more precision, that works of art exist simultaneously in two "economics," a market economy and a gift economy. Only one of these is essential, however: a work of art can survive without the market, but where there is no gift there is no art..."

It's Lewis' time for books now, it seems.  Last month, the book was reissued in an anniversary edition - "The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World."  The re-release of the book leads into a year that Lewis, though the issue of the commons has been far from dropped along the way, works on a new effort on the Cultural Commons.  He writes, "I am at work on a book in which I hope to offer a modern and American model of our cultural commons, that vast store of unowned ideas, inventions, and works of art we have inherited from the past."  

Lewis has made his triumphant spring return to Berkman soil, so we'll expect to hear more from him on this, on Fair Use (he's speaking to it during a Feb. 19th Berkman Lunch), and more in the coming months.