We all remember the end of our favorite book. Regardless of whether the novel concluded satisfactorily, an unquenchable thirst for more still burned within us. But do characters’ adventures really end at the finale of a book? Although we will never see J.K. Rowling write a story in which Harry Potter attends another year at Hogwarts, who is to say that his adventures do not continue? This is where fan fiction enters the scene. These extra-textual productions are unofficial stories written by fans about an original, published work. While often stigmatized as a cheap imitation of the original work, fan fiction is a dynamic medium in which fans can interact with and react to media. Fan fiction encompasses a wide variety of writing, from short, 150 word “drabbles” to novel-length stories. In addition, the quality of fan fiction varies widely. Although some are in fact poorly written wish-fulfillment stories (a notable example being the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey), some masterfully probe extend the conversation surrounding an already existing text. What changes if Harry is mixed race as well as of mixed wizarding blood? How does the interpretation of Hermione change if she is explicitly portrayed as black? How would Harry’s story change if he had been sorted into Slytherin?
As fan fiction has grown into a more widespread and increasingly accepted phenomenon, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitousness of the internet, it has garnered both literary and sociological critical analysis. While sociologists often comment on the structure and dynamics of fan communities and interactions, literary critics have focused on themes prevalent in fan fiction, like the tendency to add in original characters, and how these trends connect to the wider media experience. However, fan fiction is still widely ignored and even shunned due to its association with poor quality of writing, lack of originality, and dubious legality. Although fan fiction has only recently begun to break into mainstream culture, literary analysis surrounding it has already experienced two distinct waves. Recent studies of fan fiction have moved away from the idea of fan fiction as just subversive, instead viewing it as something worthy of study in itself; I intend to contribute to that trend, positioning fan fiction as a powerful force of fannish critique that allows fan fiction writers to supplant authors as the producers of meaning to comment on, expand upon, and question texts in a method similar to traditional literary critique. In exploring this line of theory, I will examine the fan fiction “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality,” which usurps J.K. Rowling’s authority to argue that rational, scientific inquiry is superior to emotion-driven decisions, while also questioning the internal logic of the Harry Potter series.
Most critics who assess fan fiction have focused on specific trends in specific communities, like the prevalence of fan fictions that romantically pair Kirk and Spock. Some critics, however, delve into the theory behind fan fiction, which is what I really wanted to explore. Sheenagh Pugh, sets up the framework of how fan fiction works, both in communities and in the wider literary world, while arguing for its worth as a literary genre. Then, Abigail Derecho goes more in-depth and argues that it has a specific position as “achrontic” literature, which means that it draws from an archive of shared knowledge, like Greek mythology. Lesley Goodman complicates the situation when she asserts that fan fiction can be a form of complaint, setting out to right the wrongs of the authors. Investigating how to regard fan fiction, Shannon Farley likens creating fan fiction to translating between languages, and offers translation as a paradigm through which we can understand fan fiction.
In this essay, I ask you to set aside your preconceived notions of fan fiction and view it as a literary production which is able to deftly critique texts due to its tendency to disregard the author as the sole source of meaning in the text. Truly, it is fascinating that some works linger with readers in such a way that they express their thoughts and feelings by bringing the characters to life on their own. With the rise of the death of the author concept, critics have fought to discern who holds the power of interpretation, but no cohesive answer has yet emerged. Further, the proliferation of the internet has brought creators and consumers into greater contact, which allows audiences to have a correspondingly greater impact on the creation of the text. At the same time, this interplay between creator and audience blurs the line separating the two. Fan fiction brings an interesting perspective to this discussion; its production necessarily “kills” the author in order to let each writer craft their own interpretation of a text and so claim their own authorship over the text. In a longer paper, I could explore how questioning of the author, which often drives fan fiction production, impacts perceptions of ownership and authorship. If each individual creates their own version of a character when they read a novel, do they have a modicum of ownership over that interpreted character? At what point is a fan fiction writer’s interpreted character transformed into an original character? Questions such as these would be fascinating to tackle. In a longer paper, I could also expand my analysis of the text and work in more key moments, like the decision to sideline Ron as Harry’s best friend, or how Harry uses scientific thinking to defeat Voldemort. Though fan fiction is beginning to receive more media and critical attention, it is largely derided by mainstream critics, impeding serious scholarship. Moving forward, we must begin to analyze fan fiction as a literary genre. While it provides a fascinating insight into cultural attitudes towards authorship, which contributes to an interesting philosophical discussion, fan fiction is most importantly an excellent example of how fans can speak back to an source text and so critique the media they consume, instead of passively absorbing and accepting stories.
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