Special K

Blog Carival: a Ferris Wheel of Fun

Our generious hostess, Diana, has come up with the next blog carnival topic: fan fiction, literary criticism, and you. Enjoy.

Personally, I've never written or read fan fiction, so I haven't often pondered its importance in the world of literature, or how it would be looked at through the eyes of a literary critic. However, the same forms of criticism we've been working with all semester can easily be applied to fan fiction as well...actually, they can be applied to pretty much anything. Yet another example of how lit crit can take over our lives.

Before starting this post, I read Jay's views on fan fiction and, while I hate to steal his idea, intertextuality makes the most sense for how fan fiction could be criticised (sorry Jay). Fan fiction draws off of one work of literature (or another form of media like a movie or tv show), models it with the same characters and similar plot structure of the original, and mirrors the style. That screams intertextuality. One work drawing off of another, or being influenced by another, to create something new.

Diana brought up the idea that it might be authorial intent as well. I'm not sure I would look at it as authorial intent, since it appears almost too obvious what the author intended. The creator of the fan fiction wants a certain story to happen with the characters of the original work, so they write it in order to make it happen. They intend to make something that others can enjoy, or a continuation of a piece, to further enjoy the original story line (can't get enough of Harry Potter? Make a fan fiction about him).