Anna Wilson (Department of English)
First-Year Seminar 66H (Fall Term) Enrollment: Limited to 12
Tuesday, 9:45-11:45 CANVAS SITE
Fanfiction is one of the most popular forms of literature today, with fourteen million stories hosted on just the Archive of Our Own (one of the major digital fanfiction archives). Including unauthorized continuations and transformations of popular media texts, fanfiction is written primarily by young women and non-binary fans, and published online. We will dive into fanfiction’s past and present, learning about the history of copyright, early print zine fandom, and fanfiction in the digital age. Through studying fanfiction, students will explore a variety of methods for studying culture, including literary analysis (how do fanfiction writers achieve certain effects? Does fanfiction have its own style?), platform analysis (how does Wattpad work differently from the Archive of Our Own, and how do these differences shape engagement and community?), and historical analysis (what did early fanzines look like? What can they tell us about the communities who produced them?). We will also explore fanfiction as a genre of creative response: in what ways can a story criticize, develop, or explain a piece of media that an essay cannot? Students will have the opportunity to choose their own final assignment, which can include doing research into fanfiction history, analyzing fanfiction, or writing a piece of fanfiction.
Fandoms discussed may include: Sherlock, Harry Potter, The Untamed, Supernatural, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC, Pride and Prejudice, The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, ACOTAR. While there is no prerequired reading, familiarity with one or more of these popular media franchises is recommended.
Note: The syllabus will be a flexible document. On many weeks, we will be reading one or more short fanfiction stories, but those are not yet specified on the syllabus. Because of the unique nature of fanfiction, it is desirable that students all be familiar with the original sources of the stories, but these are often too extensive to require them as prior reading for the seminar. Therefore, the professor will select and assign fanfiction stories in consultation with students that are appropriate for the week’s discussion, after polling the students on their interest and prior exposure to different popular culture texts. Students may have a role in nominating weekly readings. All selected fanfiction readings will be “short story” length – less than 10,000 words.