I think there's a hugely important difference between something like R&G and something like most fanfic, though I think that difference doesn't adhere strictly to the line between "mainstream" countertexts/retellings and fanfic endeavors. The difference, to me, is that most fanfic (admittedly judging from my moderate store of personal experience) doesn't have much to say to people outside the fanfic community, and that the main reason for choosing to write in a particular universe is because the author likes it rather than because it's useful or necessary in some way to what they're trying to say.
In other words, I would argue that R&G - along with Wide Sargasso Sea, Wicked, and some of the well-written, well-thought-out fanfic that's out there - deliberately uses a particular world as its setting as part of a larger system of deliberate artistic choices which are skilfully carried through in the rest of the work. Much fanfic - along with that Gone With The Wind sequel and anyone writing in the Rainbow Six universe - is more about expressing the author's love for the world in question (or building on an existing fanbase) than about using it to convey anything meaningful to the reader.
Believe me, there's some BAD fanfic out there about stuff that's completely public domain. (Weirdly, it's immediately identifiable as falling on the fanfic side of the line; I wonder whether Jenkins or any of the other fandom scholars have tried to identify the attributes of the genre.) Have you checked the Bible fanfic communities lately? :)
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yati
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Date: 2006-08-24 08:55 pm (UTC)In other words, I would argue that R&G - along with Wide Sargasso Sea, Wicked, and some of the well-written, well-thought-out fanfic that's out there - deliberately uses a particular world as its setting as part of a larger system of deliberate artistic choices which are skilfully carried through in the rest of the work. Much fanfic - along with that Gone With The Wind sequel and anyone writing in the Rainbow Six universe - is more about expressing the author's love for the world in question (or building on an existing fanbase) than about using it to convey anything meaningful to the reader.
Believe me, there's some BAD fanfic out there about stuff that's completely public domain. (Weirdly, it's immediately identifiable as falling on the fanfic side of the line; I wonder whether Jenkins or any of the other fandom scholars have tried to identify the attributes of the genre.) Have you checked the Bible fanfic communities lately? :)