In addition to movies, many books have entered the public domain beyond “The House at Pooh Corner.” One such example is “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D.H. Lawrence, which tells a scandalous tale of an upper-class woman beginning an affair with a lower-class man after her husband sustains an injury. The book was even banned in the United States after publication due to obscenity, but it’s remained in the cultural zeitgeist, even receiving a Netflix adaptation in 2022 starring Emma Corrin, best known for playing Princess Diana on “The Crown.”
Other books that now fall in the public domain include “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque, “Dark Princess” by W.E.B. Du Bois, and “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf.” That last work is of particular note, as it tells the story of a nobleman spanning several centuries who one day awakens to discover he is now a woman and must learn to navigate the world with new gender roles and expectations. As society at large starts unraveling what gender truly means in the modern day, “Orlando” feels more essential than ever before. Now that it’s in the public domain, the book is easier for people to read it and, hopefully, get something valuable from it.
