『コペンハーゲンの猫』問題

Alison Flood “James Joyce children's story The Cats of Copenhagen gets first publication” http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/feb/09/james-joyce-childrens-story-cats-copenhagen *1


ジェイムズ・ジョイスの未発表の子ども向け物語The Cats of CopenhagenアイルランドのIthys Press*2という出版社から刊行された*3


(…) The Cats of Copenhagen was written in a letter to Joyce's grandchild, Stephen James Joyce, while the author was in Denmark and the four-year-old Stephen was in France. The new tale is "exquisite, surprising, and with a keen, almost anarchic subtext", said Ithys, which has printed a limited run of 200 illustrated copies, ranging in price from €300 (£250) to €1,200.

"In early August 1936, Joyce had sent his grandson 'a little cat filled with sweets' – a kind of Trojan cat to outwit the grown-ups. A few weeks later, while in Copenhagen and probably after hunting for another fine gift, Joyce penned 'Cats', which begins: 'Alas! I cannot send you a Copenhagen cat because there are no cats in Copenhagen.' Surely there were cats in Copenhagen! But perhaps not secretly delicious ones. And so the story proceeds to describe a Copenhagen in which things are not what they seem," said Herbert. "For an adult reader (and no doubt for a very clever child) 'Cats' reads as an anti-establishment text, critical of fat-cats and some authority figures, and it champions the exercise of common sense, individuality and free will."

しかしチューリッヒのJames Joyce Foundation*4はこの出版に異議を唱えている。たしかに今年1月からジョイスの著作はパブリック・ドメインに入るが、それは既に刊行された作品についてであって、未刊行の作品についてはその限りではないというのがJames Joyce Foundation側の言い分。

The letter in which the story was found, dated 5 September 1936, was donated by Hans Jahnke, son of Giorgio Joyce's second wife, Asta, to the Zurich James Joyce Foundation. The Foundation has called its publication an "outrage", stressing that it has not granted permission for the book's release.

"We have been completely overlooked and ignored. It's only common decency to ask the owner," said the Foundation's Fritz Senn. "We are outraged. We have had no hand in this unfair thing and feel not just ignored but cheated."

Although the published works of Joyce entered the public domain in Europe on 1 January this year, Senn says it has not yet been determined whether the non-published material is now out of copyright as well. "Copyright has been lifted only, we believe, from the published material. All the huge amount of non-published material we believe is still under copyright, so this is, we believe, an infringement of that," he said, adding that he is concerned the "very belligerent" Joyce estate might sue. "We haven't heard from them [but] what I'm afraid of is that with the large amount of copyright taken away from them, their remaining territory will be defended even more fiercely."

See also http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110614/1308070364

*1:See also 石剣峰「喬伊斯遺作《哥本哈根的猫》首次出版便惹版権争議」『東方早報』2012年2月14日

*2:http://ithyspress.com/

*3:http://ithyspress.wordpress.com/titles/the-cats-of-copenhagen-james-joyce/

*4:http://www.joycefoundation.ch/