Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e Letterature Europee, Americane e Postcoloniali Tesi di Laurea Questions of Sexual Identity and Female Empowerment in Fan Fiction Relatore: Prof. Flavio Gregori Correlatore: Prof. Shaul Bassi Laureanda: Claudia Antoniolli Matricola 857024 Anno Accademico: 2017 / 2018 1 For books continue each other, in spite of our habit of judging them separately. And I must also consider her – this unknown woman – as the descendant of all those other women whose circumstances I have been glancing at and see what she inherits of their characteristics and restrictions (Woolf, [1928] 2004: 93). 2 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 7 0.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................... 7 0.1.1 A thesis about fan fiction.......................................................................................... 7 0.1.2 Roadmap ..................................................................................................................... 9 0.1.3 Expected results ........................................................................................................ 11 0.2 Subject matter: fan fiction ............................................................................................................ 11 0.3 Personal background information ................................................................................................ 13 0.4 Transcending the end ................................................................................................................... 14 0.5 Queer themes in fan fiction .......................................................................................................... 15 0.6 Feminism in fan fiction ................................................................................................................ 16 0.7 The detractors of fan fiction ......................................................................................................... 17 0.8 Sociological value of fan fiction .................................................................................................. 19 0.8.1 Fanatics ..................................................................................................................... 21 0.9 Fandom: fanatic domain ............................................................................................................... 22 0.9.1 Female fanatic domain: Women in fandom .............................................................. 26 0.10 Fields of study ............................................................................................................................ 27 0.10.1 Methodologies ......................................................................................................... 28 0.10.2 Fans’ self-analysis and academic-fans .................................................................... 29 Chapter 1: Fan fiction and fandoms .............................................................................................. 33 1.1 Reading and comprehension ........................................................................................................ 33 1.1.1 Reader-response theory ............................................................................................. 35 1.2 Fans as active readers ................................................................................................................... 35 1.2.1 Women fans as active readers ................................................................................... 36 1.2.2 Fans as subversive readers ........................................................................................ 40 1.3 Transmedia storytelling................................................................................................................ 42 1.4 Literary magma: the fan text ........................................................................................................ 44 1.5 Defining fan fiction ...................................................................................................................... 49 1.5.1 The context of fan fiction .......................................................................................... 49 1.5.2 Warning the readers: tags and spoilers ..................................................................... 50 1.5.3 The fan fiction community as a collective mind ....................................................... 53 1.5.4 Subversive fan fiction ............................................................................................... 55 3 1.6 Not quite fan fiction ..................................................................................................................... 57 1.7 Glossary ....................................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 2: Brief history of fandom ................................................................................................ 67 2.1 Brief history of fandom and fan fiction ....................................................................................... 67 2.1.1 The Sherlock Holmes fandom and the first half of the 20th century ......................... 67 2.1.2 The Grand Game ....................................................................................................... 68 2.1.3 The Star Trek fandom and the end of the 20th century ............................................. 70 2.1.4 Fan magazines ........................................................................................................... 73 2.2 The rise of the Internet ................................................................................................................. 76 2.2.1 Fandoms and Computer-Mediated-Communication ................................................. 77 2.2.2 Fandom dynamics on the Internet ............................................................................. 79 2.2.3 Mailing lists............................................................................................................... 82 2.2.4 Real Person Fiction ................................................................................................... 86 2.3 Online archives and the 2000s ..................................................................................................... 86 2.3.1 Recent changes in online fandoms ............................................................................ 86 2.3.2 Digital fandoms and producers ................................................................................. 91 2.3.4 Beta readers ............................................................................................................... 94 2.3.5 Fan fiction warnings regarding beta reading............................................................. 97 Chapter 3: Sex and gender identity in fan fiction ....................................................................... 101 3.1 Gender and reading .................................................................................................................... 101 3.1.1 The division between boys’ books and girls’ books ............................................... 103 3.2 Writing and reading for fun ....................................................................................................... 105 3.3 Mary Sue .................................................................................................................................... 107 3.4 Women authors, male characters ............................................................................................... 110 3.4.1 Mental bonds and soulmates in fan fiction ............................................................. 112 3.4.2 Heterosexual women authors and homosexual male characters ............................. 114 3.5 Fan fiction and the romance genre ............................................................................................. 120 3.5.1 The Domestic trope and the romance novel ............................................................ 125 3.5.2 Intimatopia .............................................................................................................. 126 3.6 Queer fan fiction authors ............................................................................................................ 128 3.6.1 Queer fan fiction readers ......................................................................................... 130 4 Chapter 4: Female empowerment in fan fiction ......................................................................... 133 4.1 The sex/gender binary ................................................................................................................ 133 4.1.1 Performative gender ................................................................................................ 137 4.2 Feminist discourses in literary studies ....................................................................................... 140 4.2.1 Women readers ....................................................................................................... 140 4.2.2 Feminism and social change in romance and fan fiction ........................................ 141 4.2.3 Androcentric literature ...........................................................................................