Transformative Works as a Means to Develop Critical Perspectives in the Tolkien Fan Community by Dawn Felagund

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Fanwork Notes

This is a live recording of a paper presented at the Mythmoot III conference. The handout can be found here. The video can be found here. Thank you to Alcina for doing a clean-up on the sound quality!

Fanwork Information

Summary:

This paper, presented at the Mythmoot III conference in Baltimore, Maryland, on 10 January 2015, considers the history of Tolkien fan fiction, the development of online Tolkien fan fiction communities, and how writers of Tolkien fan fiction use their stories to learn more about the texts and develop analytical and critical approaches toward those texts.

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Genre: Presentation

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Rating: General

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Posted on 12 January 2015 Updated on 7 March 2021

This fanwork is complete.

Transformative Works as a Means to Develop Critical Perspectives in the Tolkien Fan Community

Comments on Transformative Works as a Means to Develop Critical Perspectives in the Tolkien Fan Community

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Great paper! Interesting perspectives on the effects of forming groups around shared values/approaches. It seems a lot less the case in the current decade. 

It still gives me a thrill when you mention 14-year-old me's ff.net pseud in these very professional and insightful talks/interviews hehe.

Haaa, yes indeed! Thank goodness you chose the penname you did! Who knows if I ever would have found the fanfic world otherwise!

This paper is so old (well, ten years, one of my first conference papers, feels like forever) and I don't remember it well but seem to recall very much being on the defensive of fanworks as legitimate. This was the same conference where Corey Olsen grudgingly admitted that he was starting to "get" why people write fanfiction, which felt like a huge deal to me at the time! Prominent Tolkien scholar admits we're not just a bunch of horny teens or cat ladies enacting our perverse fantasies with Tolkien's sacred world! (Not that there's anything wrong with that either, but the stereotype was a little tired by this point in my life.) That alone reminds me how much things have changed. I speak on fan studies even now at Tolkien events and no longer feel the need to go on the defensive first of "why this work should be allowed to exist because we really do know our Tolkien, you guys."

Anyway, thanks for listening and commenting on this piece of what feels like my ancient past! :D