Can’t Help My Shelf
As a result of an anonymous donation to her state historical center, seasoned manuscript archivist Annie is the first to physically interact with her now-deceased favorite author’s diaries. To say that Annie feels an emotional connection with this writer is an understatement: her grandmother read this author’s stories to her as a little girl, and Annie does the same with her own daughters. The opportunity to delve into the mind behind the author of such treasured stories is exciting to Annie—she would be able to read the books with greater context of the author’s experience and view of the world, potentially unearthing new interpretations from the text. Now, only a pair of gloves separates her from the dusty collection of the exalted author’s innermost thoughts.
Suddenly, Annie’s exuberance is overwhelmed by the worry that she is violating this author’s privacy. As a child, Annie kept a miniature lock on her diary to ensure no one read it, and she once expressed anger after peeking into her sister’s room and spotting her mother rifling through her older sister’s journal. Last week, Annie’s daughter picked up her friend’s phone to swipe through the camera roll in search of a photo, and the friend became visibly upset. Annie recognizes that personal anecdotes, whether written or in the form of a photo stream, are private matters.
However, Annie recalls that many authors’ in-progress or unpublished novels have been publicly released following their deaths. From the work of Franz Kafka and Emily Dickinson to tales from J.R.R. Tolkien and Geoffrey Chaucer, posthumous publishing has proven itself a hallmark of the literary tradition for centuries. Annie knows that, in some such cases, authors have failed to achieve fame until after their burials—that is, only as a result of the posthumous works’ publication—whereas others had already earned acclaim while alive.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What are the morally relevant differences, if any, between Annie reading her favorite author’s diary for a few minutes and publishing it?
How, if at all, ought death change how an individual interacts with a person’s property, especially those considered “unfinished” or riddled with emotional vulnerability?
Is it permissible to publish (unfinished) work if a creator is unable to consent to it?
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