First of the top 5 memes - literary theorists
1. Michel Foucault
Foucault has been a profound influence on my work. When I was working on my dissertation, his books Discipline and Punish and Madness and Civilization were incredibly useful as important studies of the effect of the interrelationship between the human sciences and methods of organizing power over people. These days "What is an author?" is the essay I always assign when teaching literary criticism.
2. Roland Barthes
In the work that I'm doing now, Barthes' essays "The Death of the Author" and "From Work to Text" have been very influential in terms of examining the ways that fans assert themselves in relation to the text.
3. Mikhail Bakhtin
It's really hard for me to rank my top three. I could shuffle the rankings of Bakhtin, Barthes, and Foucault, and it would still reflect the influence they've had on me. Bakhtin's notions of discourse in particular have been very powerful for me in terms of looking at Internet discourse.
4. Henry Jenkins
Most non-academic fans, if they've heard of any cultural theorist, they've heard of Henry Jenkins. He's the father of fan studies and brought it a legitimacy that allowed the rest of us to follow along behind him.
5. Matt Hills
If Jenkins is the father of fan studies, then Hills is perhaps the oldest son -- a bit defiant, but on target in his critiques. He developed some very valuable concepts that I hope for my work to build on -- particularly hyperdiegesis and endlessly deferred narrative. I feel that these two concepts are critical to understanding the kinds of stories that result in the strongest fan engagement. (Hyperdiegesis refers to the world-building that goes on and endlessly deferred narrative refers to the lack of closure. Both mean that a story has a potential world and history that extends beyond that provided by the author.
Foucault has been a profound influence on my work. When I was working on my dissertation, his books Discipline and Punish and Madness and Civilization were incredibly useful as important studies of the effect of the interrelationship between the human sciences and methods of organizing power over people. These days "What is an author?" is the essay I always assign when teaching literary criticism.
2. Roland Barthes
In the work that I'm doing now, Barthes' essays "The Death of the Author" and "From Work to Text" have been very influential in terms of examining the ways that fans assert themselves in relation to the text.
3. Mikhail Bakhtin
It's really hard for me to rank my top three. I could shuffle the rankings of Bakhtin, Barthes, and Foucault, and it would still reflect the influence they've had on me. Bakhtin's notions of discourse in particular have been very powerful for me in terms of looking at Internet discourse.
4. Henry Jenkins
Most non-academic fans, if they've heard of any cultural theorist, they've heard of Henry Jenkins. He's the father of fan studies and brought it a legitimacy that allowed the rest of us to follow along behind him.
5. Matt Hills
If Jenkins is the father of fan studies, then Hills is perhaps the oldest son -- a bit defiant, but on target in his critiques. He developed some very valuable concepts that I hope for my work to build on -- particularly hyperdiegesis and endlessly deferred narrative. I feel that these two concepts are critical to understanding the kinds of stories that result in the strongest fan engagement. (Hyperdiegesis refers to the world-building that goes on and endlessly deferred narrative refers to the lack of closure. Both mean that a story has a potential world and history that extends beyond that provided by the author.