Uncomfortable Theory

[reading_is_in]

Reading Abigail Derecho, 'Archontic Literature' in 'Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet', ed. Hellekson and Busse. I appreciate the historical perspective on rewritings by minorities, but the idea that fanfiction is something women do because it fills their need for nurturance and emotional gratification is making me very

Comments

[concinnity]

Hm. That wasn't my take-away from her piece, although its been some time since I read it. I thought her emphasis was on the palimpsest aspects of fanfic, emphasizing the literary tradition of this kind of work (and, too, Archive Fever is usefully deployed, I think, in a way we don't see much.). The emotional aspects iirc were a) in response to Jenkins, who must be addressed and b)via the resistance-to-popular-depictions argument.

I agree with you on Pugh, though, although she seems to be a delightful person.

I'd really be interested in your further thoughts on Derecho's essay. :)

[reading_is_in]

Well I agree it's a very useful bit of historicization, and I can't wait to look up the sequels to Sidney's Arcadia (a rather homoerotic opus if I recall my medieval lit aright!). But she says on p. 71-2 that even fanfic which adhere to heteronormative ideal of social and sexual interaction are radical in the way Janice Radway thought print romance novels were subversive - women supplying 'emotional gratification' and 'nuturance' to women readers, privileging 'love and personal interaction'. I'm not saying I *never* want emotional gratification from fic - sometimes I do - but it's an uncomfortably essentializing idea of what it means to be a woman writer or reader, IMO...

[concinnity]

I see, I'd forgotten about that. Interesting. In that case, I agree with you. I sort of despise that kind of essentialism. That said, what I do like about her piece (again, going on memory, I should re-read!) is that by replying to both Jenkins and Radway, she enacts her own theory- her own work is a palimpsest of the earlier scholars in the field. (And to my mind, she does it more adeptly than Jenkins did, since he more or less lifted Radway's idea and applied it wholesale to fandom. I'm sure he's a delightful person, too, but I still haven't forgiven him for Textual Poachers.)

On the other hand, no piece is perfect, and this does provide a space for us young'uns to be a bit more nuanced in our approach, right? :)