Sexual Life of Savages enters public domain

Bronislaw Malinowski [C]: photo - wikipedia

The writings of the pioneer of anthropology join those of other Polish and international authors who died in 1942, with copyrights expiring after the standard 70-year period.

Given that war was raging in Europe in 1942, many of the authors whose works are being freed up this year died in tragic circumstances.

Such is the case with Polish-Jewish author and artist Bruno Schulz, who is often referred to as “the Polish Kafka.” Schulz was gunned down in the street in occupied Poland by a German Nazi officer in November 1942.

Meanwhile, Austrian-Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, whose extraordinary memoir The World of Yesterday evokes scenes from Vienna, Warsaw and across Europe, committed suicide in Brazil in February 1942.

Although celebrated Polish-Jewish children's author and paediatrician Janusz Korczak is also understood to have died in 1942, his writings will not enter the public domain until 2017, owing to a lack of clarity about the precise date of his death.

Bronislaw Malinowski was born in Krakow in 1884 but made his career in England. Works such as Argonauts of the Southern Pacific (1922) and The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929) established him as one of the key anthropologists of his day. He died of a heart attack in the United States in May 1942.

More information about works freed up this year can be found at the web site wolnelektury.pl, which has services in several languages. (nh)