Fanfiction: between two poles
As most of you know, one of the subjects I've been studying for my "content test" is Translation Theories. But as I read all those theories, I'm always thinking about fanfiction too. So...
Gideon Toury, a professor at Tel Aviv university, locates translation as always in the middle: no translation is ever entirely "acceptable" to the target culture because it will always introduce new information and forms defamiliarizing to that system, nor is any translation entirely "adequate" to the original version, because the cultural norms cause shifts from the source text structures. Historically, translation criticism has been characterized by its tendency to find fault with the translator because the actual text can never meet the ideal standards of the two abstract poles: from a linguistic point of view, errors can always be pointed out and better solutions proposed; from a literary point of view, the functional elements can invariably be judged as less dynamic or innovative than the source text's features. (Stolen from Edwin Gentzler's "Contemporary Translation Theories".)
Well. Here's the analogy for you (and it's just a very poor analogy!): Fanfiction is always in the middle between canon and original fiction. No fanfiction is ever entirely "canonical" (and its characters are never entirely "in character"), nor is any fanfiction entirely original (or it wouldn't be "fanfiction"). Fanfiction critics will always find fault with the fic writer because the actual fic can never meet the standards of two abstract poles. So, some critics will criticize your fic because it's not "canonical" enough, while others will critize it for not being original enough.
Gideon Toury, a professor at Tel Aviv university, locates translation as always in the middle: no translation is ever entirely "acceptable" to the target culture because it will always introduce new information and forms defamiliarizing to that system, nor is any translation entirely "adequate" to the original version, because the cultural norms cause shifts from the source text structures. Historically, translation criticism has been characterized by its tendency to find fault with the translator because the actual text can never meet the ideal standards of the two abstract poles: from a linguistic point of view, errors can always be pointed out and better solutions proposed; from a literary point of view, the functional elements can invariably be judged as less dynamic or innovative than the source text's features. (Stolen from Edwin Gentzler's "Contemporary Translation Theories".)
Well. Here's the analogy for you (and it's just a very poor analogy!): Fanfiction is always in the middle between canon and original fiction. No fanfiction is ever entirely "canonical" (and its characters are never entirely "in character"), nor is any fanfiction entirely original (or it wouldn't be "fanfiction"). Fanfiction critics will always find fault with the fic writer because the actual fic can never meet the standards of two abstract poles. So, some critics will criticize your fic because it's not "canonical" enough, while others will critize it for not being original enough.