“An Unprecedented Point of Literary Ownership”: Goncharov, Nihilism, and Copyright Discussions in the 1860s and 1870s

The article examines the discussion of copyright and the category of authorship as such in 1860s and 1870s. At this time, French and Russian radical journalists proposed their own interpretation of the problem of literary ownership, which implied the rejection of the post-romantic notion of the author as the autonomous creator. This discussion informed An Uncommon Story by Ivan Goncharov, an autobiographical work dedicated to plagiarism that identified an acute crisis of the institution of literature, perceived by Goncharov as a constant threat to his work and himself from the government, the literary community, and the international market.