An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.

Author of a written or legally copied work[link]

Legal significance[link]

In copyright law, there is a necessity for little flexibility as to what constitutes authorship. The United States Copyright Office defines copyright as "a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to authors of "original works of authorship".^[1] Holding the title of "author" over any "literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, [or] certain other intellectual works" give rights to this person, the owner of the copyright, exclusive right to do or authorize any production or distribution of their work. Any person or entity wishing to use intellectual property held under copyright must receive permission from the copyright holder to use this work, and often will be asked to pay for the use of copyrighted material. After a fixed amount of time, the copyright expires on intellectual work and it enters the public domain, where it can be used without limit. Copyright law has been amended time and time again since the inception of the law to extend the length of this fixed period where the work is exclusively controlled by the copyright holder. However, copyright is merely the legal reassurance that one owns his/her work. Technically, someone owns their work from the time it's created. An interesting aspect of authorship emerges with copyright in that it can be passed down to another upon one's death. The person who inherits the copyright is not the author, but enjoys the same legal benefits.

Questions arise as to the application of copyright law. How does it, for example, apply to the complex issue of fan fiction? If the media agency responsible for the authorized production allows material from fans, what is the limit before legal constraints from actors, music, and other considerations, come into play? As well, how does copyright apply to fan-generated stories for books? What powers do the original authors, as well as the publishers, have in regulating or even stopping the fan fiction?

Literary significance[link]

In literary theory, critics find complications in the term "author" beyond what constitutes authorship in a legal setting. In the wake of postmodern literature, critics such as Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault have examined the role and relevance of authorship to the meaning or interpretation of a text.

Barthes challenges the idea that a text can be attributed to any single author. He quotes, in his essay "Death of the Author" (1968), that "it is language which speaks, not the author".^[2] The words and language of a text itself determine and expose meaning for Barthes, and not someone possessing legal responsibility for the process of its production. Every line of written text is a mere reflection of references from any of a multitude of traditions, or, as Barthes puts it, "the text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture"; it is never original.^[2] With this, the perspective of the author is removed from the text, and the limits formerly imposed by the idea of one authorial voice, one ultimate and universal meaning, are destroyed. The explanation and meaning of a work does not have to be sought in the one who produced it, "as if it were always in the end, through the more or less transparent allegory of the fictioni, the voice of a single person, the author 'confiding' in us".^[2] The psyche, culture, fanaticism of an author can be disregarded when interpreting a text, because the words are rich enough themselves with all of the traditions of language. To expose meanings in a written work without appealing to the celebrity of an author, their tastes, passions, vices, is, to Barthes, to allow language to speak, rather than author.

Michel Foucault argues in his essay "What is an author?" (1969), that all authors are writers, but not all writers are authors. He states that "a private letter may have a signatory—it does not have an author".^[3] For a reader to assign the title of author upon any written work is to attribute certain standards upon the text which, for Foucault, are working in conjunction with the idea of "the author function".^[3] Foucault's author function is the idea that an author exists only as a function of a written work, a part of its structure, but not necessarily part of the interpretive process. The author's name "indicates the status of the discourse within a society and culture", and at one time was used as an anchor for interpreting a text, a practice which Barthes would argue is not a particularly relevant or valid endeavor.^[3]

Expanding upon Foucault's position, Alexander Nehamas writes that Foucault suggests "an author [...] is whoever can be understood to have produced a particular text as we interpret it", not necessarily who penned the text.^[4] It is this distinction between producing a written work and producing the interpretation or meaning in a written work that both Barthes and Foucault are interested in. Foucault warns of the risks of keeping the author's name in mind during interpretation, because it could affect the value and meaning with which one handles an interpretation.

Literary critics Barthes and Foucault suggest that readers should not rely on or look for the notion of one overarching voice when interpreting a written work, because of the complications inherent with a writer's title of "author." They warn of the dangers interpretations could suffer from when associating the subject of inherently meaningful words and language with the personality of one authorial voice. Instead, readers should allow a text to be interpreted in terms of the language as "author."

Relationship between author and publisher[link]

The publisher of a work might receive a percentage calculated on a wholesale or a specific price and or a fixed amount on each book that is sold. Publishers, at times, reduced the risk of this type of arrangement, by agreeing only to pay this after a certain amount of copies had sold. In Canada this practice occurred during the 1890s, but was not commonplace until the 1920s.

• Commissioned: Publishers made publication arrangements, and authors covered all expenses (today the practice of authors paying for their publications is often called vanity publishing, and is looked down upon by many publishers, even though it may have been a common and accepted practice in the past). Publishers would receive a percentage on the sale of every copy of a book, and the author would receive the rest of the money made.

Relationship between author and editor[link]

The relationship between the author and the editor, often the author's only liaison to the publishing company, is often characterized as the site of tension. For the author to reach his or her audience, the work usually must attract the attention of the editor. The idea of the author as the sole meaning-maker of necessity changes to include the influences of the editor and the publisher in order to engage the audience in writing as a social act.

Pierre Bourdieu's essay "The Field of Cultural Production" depicts the publishing industry as a "space of literary or artistic position-takings," also called the "field of struggles," which is defined by the tension and movement inherent among the various positions in the field.^[5] Bourdieu claims that the "field of position-takings [...] is not the product of coherence-seeking intention or objective consensus," meaning that an industry characterized by position-takings is not one of harmony and neutrality.^[6] In particular for the writer, their authorship in their work makes their work part of their identity, and there is much at stake personally over the negotiation of authority over that identity. However, it is the editor who has "the power to impose the dominant definition of the writer and therefore to delimit the population of those entitled to take part in the struggle to define the writer".^[7] As "cultural investors," publishers rely on the editor position to identify a good investment in "cultural capital" which may grow to yield economic capital across all positions.^[8]

According to the studies of James Curran, the system of shared values among editors in Britain has generated a pressure among authors to write to fit the editors' expectations, removing the focus from the reader-audience and putting a strain on the relationship between authors and editors and on writing as a social act. Even the book review by the editors has more significance than the readership's reception.^[9]

Compensation[link]

A standard contract for an author will usually include provision for payment in the form of an advance and royalties. An advance is a lump sum paid in advance of publication. An advance must be earned out before royalties are payable. An advance may be paid in two lump sums: the first payment on contract signing, and the second on delivery of the completed manuscript or on publication.

An author's contract may specify, for example, that they will earn 10% of the retail price of each book sold. Some contracts specify a scale of royalties payable (for example, where royalties start at 10% for the first 10,000 sales, but then increase to a higher percentage rate at higher sale thresholds).

An author's book must earn out their advance before any further royalties are paid. For example, if an author is paid a modest advance of $2000.00, and their royalty rate is 10% of a book priced at $20.00 - that is, $2.00 per book - the book will need to sell 1000 copies before any further payment will be made. Publishers typically withhold payment of a percentage of royalties earned against returns.

In some countries, authors also earn income from a government scheme such as the ELR (Educational Lending Right) and PLR (Public Lending Right) schemes in Australia. Under these schemes, authors are paid a fee for the number of copies of their books in educational and/or public libraries.

These days, many authors supplement their income from book sales with public speaking engagements, school visits, residencies, grants, and teaching positions.

Ghostwriters, technical writers, and textbooks writers are typically paid in a different way: usually a set fee or a per word rate rather than on a percentage of sales.

See also[link]

• Novelist
• Writer
• Lists of writers
• Lists of poets
• List of novelists
• Professional writing
• Academic authorship
• Ghostwriter
• Lead author
• Autuer

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Author

Look up author in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up authorship in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiversity has learning materials about Collaborative_play_writing

• A system for fast authorship by Daniel Hall

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator from California
Incumbent
Assumed office November 10, 1992 Serving with Barbara Boxer
Preceded by	John F. Seymour
Chairwoman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 2009
Preceded by	Jay Rockefeller
Chairwoman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Joe Biden
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
In office January 4, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Succeeded by	Chuck Schumer
38th Mayor of San Francisco
In office December 4, 1978 – January 8, 1988
Preceded by	George Moscone
Succeeded by	Art Agnos
Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
In office 1970–1978
Personal details
Born	Dianne Emiel Goldman (1933-06-22) June 22, 1933 (age 79) San Francisco, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Judge Jack Berman (div.) Bertram Feinstein (deceased) Richard C. Blum (1980 - )
Children	Katherine Feinstein Mariano
Residence	San Francisco, California
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.A.)
Occupation	United States Senator
Religion	Judaism
Website	www.feinstein.senate.gov

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( /ˈfaɪnstaɪn/; born June 22, 1933) is the senior United States Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University. In the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention to the city. Feinstein, who was the first to discover the shootings, succeeded Moscone as mayor. During her tenure as San Francisco's first female mayor she took a politically moderate stance, leading a revamp of the city's cable car system and overseeing the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two became California's first female U.S. Senators. Feinstein formerly chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007–2009) and has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. She is also the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.^[1][2]

She is currently twenty-second in seniority in the United States Senate.

Early life[link]

Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman^[3] in San Francisco to Betty (née Rosenburg), a former model, and Leon Goldman, a nationally renowned surgeon. Feinstein's paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Poland, while her maternal grandparents, who were of the Russian Orthodox faith, left St. Petersburg, Russia, after the 1917 Russian Revolution.^[4] Her mother's surname, "Rosenburg", originates from German ancestry.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Feinstein graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School (California) in 1951 and from Stanford University in 1955 with a B.A. in History.

In 1956, she married Jack Berman (died 2002), a colleague in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. Feinstein and Berman divorced three years later. Their daughter, Katherine Feinstein Mariano (b. 1957), is Presiding Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.^[6]

In 1962, shortly after beginning her career in politics, Feinstein married neurosurgeon Bertram Feinstein; her second husband died of colon cancer in 1978.

In 1980, Feinstein married Richard C. Blum, an investment banker. In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth-wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million.^[7] By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million.^[8] Her 347-page financial-disclosure statement^[9] – characterized by the San Francisco Chronicle as "nearly the size of a phone book" – draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband, with many of her assets in blind trusts.^[10]

Early political career[link]

In 1961, Feinstein worked to end housing discrimination in San Francisco.^[11] Prior to elected service, she was appointed by then-California Governor Pat Brown to serve as a member of the California Women's Parole Board. Feinstein also served as a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco.

President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors[link]

In 1969, Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She remained on the Board for nine years.

During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco twice, in 1971 against mayor Joseph Alioto, and in 1975, when she lost the contest for a runoff slot (against George Moscone) by one percentage point, to supervisor John Barbagelata.

She was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 with initial opposition from Quentin Kopp.

On November 27, 1978, San Francisco mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by a rival politician, Dan White, who had resigned from the Board of Supervisors only two weeks prior. Feinstein was close by in City Hall at the time of the shootings, and discovered Milk's body after hearing the gunshots and going to investigate. Later that day at a press conference originally organized by Moscone to announce White's successor, Feinstein announced the assassinations to the stunned public, stating: "As president of the board of supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed."^[12]

Feinstein appears in archival footage and is credited in the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). She appears again briefly in archival footage, announcing the death of Moscone and Milk in the 2008 film Milk. Feinstein and her position as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are also alluded to several times in the movie, and a portrayal of her character has a few off-screen lines.

As president of the Board of Supervisors upon the death of Mayor Moscone, Feinstein succeeded to the mayoralty on December 4, 1978.

Mayor of San Francisco[link]

As mayor of San Francisco, 1978-1988

Feinstein served out the remainder of Moscone's term. She made no staffing changes to his team until she was elected in her own right in 1979. She was re-elected in 1983 and served a full second term.

One of the first challenges to face Feinstein as mayor was the state of the San Francisco cable car system. In late 1979, the system had to be shut down for emergency repairs, and an engineering evaluation concluded that it needed comprehensive rebuilding at a cost of $60 million. Feinstein took charge of the effort, and helped win federal funding for the bulk of the rebuilding job. The system closed for rebuilding in 1982 and reopened in 1984 in time for the Democratic National Convention that was held in the city that year.^[13] Feinstein also oversaw planning policies to increase the number of high rise buildings in San Francisco.^[14]

Perhaps because of her statewide ambitions, Feinstein was seen as a relatively moderate Democrat in one of the country's most liberal cities. As a supervisor, she was considered part of the centrist bloc that included Dan White and was generally opposed to Moscone. As mayor, Feinstein angered the city's large gay community by refusing to march in a gay rights parade and by vetoing domestic partner legislation in 1983. In the 1980 presidential election, while a majority of Bay Area Democrats continued to support Senator Ted Kennedy's primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter even after it was clear Kennedy could not win, Feinstein was a strong supporter of the Carter-Mondale ticket. She was given a high profile speaking role on the opening night of the August Democratic National Convention, urging delegates to reject the Kennedy delegates' proposal to "open" the convention, thereby allowing delegates to ignore their states' popular vote, a proposal that was soundly defeated.

In the run up to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. However, he chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. Also in 1984, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8, 1988.

In 1985, at a press conference, Feinstein revealed details about the hunt for serial killer Richard Ramírez, and in so doing angered detectives by giving away details of his crimes.^[15]

In 1987, City and State magazine named Feinstein the nation's "Most Effective Mayor." Feinstein served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s while mayor of San Francisco.

Governor's election[link]

In 1990, Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of California. Although she won the Democratic Party's nomination for the office, she then lost in the general election to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who vacated his seat in the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, she was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures associated with that campaign.^[16]

U.S. Senate career[link]

Elections[link]

Official senate photo from 2003

Feinstein in 2010, as she hosted an event in which 5 members of the U.S. Senate attended Feinstein's home

On November 3, 1992, Feinstein won a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated a year earlier when Senator Pete Wilson resigned to become governor. The election was held at the same time as the general election for U.S. President and other offices. Barbara Boxer was elected at the same time for the Senate seat to be vacated by Alan Cranston. Because Feinstein was elected to an unexpired term, she became a senator as soon as the election was certified in November while Boxer would not take office until the expiration of Cranston's term in January; thus Feinstein became California's senior senator, even though she was elected at the same time as Barbara Boxer. Feinstein was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006.

In April 2011, Feinstein said she planned to run for reelection in 2012.^[17]

Approval ratings[link]

Committees[link]

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (Chairwoman)
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees
  • Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Select Committee on Intelligence (Chairwoman)

Political positions and votes[link]

Feinstein voted for the extension of the PATRIOT ACT and the FISA provisions.^{[citation needed]}

Feinstein co-sponsored (along with Tom Coburn, an Oklahoman Republican) an amendment through the Senate to the 'Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011' that eliminated the 'Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit'. The Senate passed the amendment on June 16, 2011. Introduced in 2004, the subsidy provided a 45c per gallon credit on pure ethanol and a 54c per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. These subsidies had resulted in an annual expenditure of $6 billion, the removal of which will help to quash the escalating US debt crisis.^[18][19]

On May 12, 2011, Feinstein co-sponsored PIPA.^[20] In January 2012, Feinstein met with representatives of technology companies, including Google and Facebook. According to a spokesperson, Feinstein "is doing all she can to ensure that the bill is balanced and protects the intellectual property concerns of the content community without unfairly burdening legitimate businesses such as Internet search engines."^[21]

2008 presidential politics[link]

The line for unclaimed tickets to the inauguration outside Feinstein's office

As a superdelegate, Feinstein had declared that she would support Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, once Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee for the party, she fully backed his candidacy. Days after Obama amassed enough delegates to win the Democratic Party nomination, Feinstein lent her Washington, D.C. home to both Clinton and Obama to have a private one-on-one meeting.^{[dead link][22]} Feinstein did not attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver because she fell and broke her ankle.^[23]

She chaired the United States Congress Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and acted as mistress of ceremonies, introducing each participant at the 2009 presidential inauguration.^[24]

2010 Gubernatorial election[link]

Feinstein had been reported as considering a run for Governor of California in 2010 to replace term limited Republican incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger. A private poll in July 2008 showed Feinstein far outpacing former governor Jerry Brown, 50 percent to 24 percent, with Congressman John Garamendi at 10 percent.^[25] A February 2009 poll showed that 36 percent of Democrats sampled in the poll said they would support Feinstein if she ran for governor. Brown earned 14 percent, followed by Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa, at 9 percent and 22 percent undecided.^[26] By October, although undeclared, in a poll by Field Research she led the Democratic field with 52 percent of all voters and 68 percent of Democratic voters.^[27] After months of speculation, Feinstein announced in February 2010 that she would not be running for governor.^[28] Feinstein became campaign chair for Barbara Boxer in the United States Senate election which resulted in Boxer's reelection.^[29][30]

Awards and honors[link]

Feinstein was presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service by the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution on November 3, 2001 in Los Angeles, California.

Offices held[link]

Electoral history[link]

See also[link]

	San Francisco Bay Area portal
	Biography portal
	Government of the United States portal
	Politics portal

• California government and politics
• Rosalind Wiener Wyman, co-chair of Feinstein political campaigns.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Roberts, Jerry (1994). Dianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry, Harpercollins. ISBN 0-06-258508-8
• Weiss, Mike (2010). Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind the Double Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, Vince Emery Productions. ISBN 978-0-9825650-5-6

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Dianne Feinstein

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dianne Feinstein

• United States Senator Dianne Feinstein official U.S. Senate site
• Diane Feinstein 2012 official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Dianne Feinstein in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Op-ed archives at Project Syndicate
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Biography at Jewish Women Encyclopedia
• Diane Feinstein's Opening Remarks at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration at AmericanRhetoric.com, video, audio and text

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