Why does my brain inisist on connecting everything to fandom when I'm studying?

[sunnyskywalker]

I'm studying for my Early Modern European History final tomorrow, and I just can't keep my mind in the right century. I read this in my notes:

- "Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536)

- Most famous scholar in Europe, knew & wrote to everyone
- Educated in Scholastic tradition and hated it
- Criticized contemporary religious practices & called for back-to-sources & reform w/in church w/emphasis on interior piety (not ritual)"

My first thought? "Erasmus was a BNF! He had a huge flist! And everyone friended him! And European Intellectual fandom was split into the Scholastics and Humanists! And Erasmus was known for railing against fanon and arguing for a return to canon, and this eventually led to a huge flamewar and a big split in the Christendom fandom..."

I wonder whether anyone has done a real comparison of fandom and RL dynamics. I mean, I keep hearing about people publishing anonymous political tracts in all my classes (like the one Milton responded to in Areopagitica Defense of the People of England - "Anonymous Dude, not only does your Latin suck, but your political views suck too, and here's why"), and that does seem similar to publishing anonymously on the internet. There were the novels responding to other novels in a sort of fictional debate. Henry Fielding satirized Samuel Richardson's Pamela, then wrote his own novel where Pamela was a character - how much like fanfiction is that, hmm? Is this the 18^th-century version of fanfic remixing? In a very "my form of the fic novel is better than yours and I totally have a different view of your ridiculous Mary Sue character than you do" kind of way. Did they have sockpuppets back then too? I'll bet they did. Really, I don't think fandom is that different from the rest of life other than the format.

Anyway, enough half-baked ideas. I really must study!

Comments

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

"Erasmus was a BNF! He had a huge flist! And everyone friended him!

Bwah! Interesting comparison. I suppose social networking has always been important, but it happened m-u-c-h--m-o-r-e--s-l-o-w-l-y before the internet. I wonder what the Reformation would have been like if all the participants had LJs. Worse and more virulent, I expect.

Henry Fielding satirized Samuel Richardson's Pamela, then wrote his own novel where Pamela was a character - how much like fanfiction is that, hmm? Is this the 18th-century version of fanfic remixing? In a very "my form of the fic novel is better than yours and I totally have a different view of your ridiculous Mary Sue character than you do" kind of way. Did they have sockpuppets back then too? I'll bet they did.

Hee, great comparisons. I can't prove it but I think the eighteenth century was particularly fanfic-like: possibly because it was also a period when a rapidly expanding technology (in this case cheaper printing and the advent of circulating libraries) were expanding the reading public, encouraging new readers, and bringing about a rearguard parodic action from people educated under the old regime. Interesting to think about, anyway -- have you ever read The Dunciad? Seems to me like the 18C equivalent of fandom_wank. :D

Good luck on your finals!

[sunnyskywalker]

Thanks!

Yes, I took a class on the eighteenth century British novel last spring, and the whole time I kept thinking, "This sounds like the internet, only on paper!" I haven't read The Dunciad yet, but from what I've heard about it, I think you're right that it sounds like fandom_wank.