slightly negative view toward fan fiction H u m a n i t i e s

Fan Fiction

In her introduction to Wide Sargasso Sea, Edwidge Danticat writes that the book is “more than, to use a contemporary term, fan fiction. It is its own jewel of a novel, which can be read with or without its original inspiration in mind” (7-8, my italics).

Danticat seems to take a slightly negative view toward fan fiction in the quote above, as she emphasizes that Rhys’ work can stand on its own without the Western novel, Jane Eyre, from which it springs. However, Danticat also muses, at the end of her introduction, on what she wishes would have happened to the characters, mainly: “I only regret that Jane and Antionette never get to speak to each other in either book…. I suppose this is the kind of conjecture that moves one in the direction of writing a book like Wide Sargasso Sea, the “What if” element that leads to extracting other stories from ones that have already been written. What if Jane and Antoinette had become friends? And what if Christine could have a novel of her own?…. I still can’t help but hope that maybe one day someone else will open up yet another portal into these incredibly intertwined worlds….” (10-11).

According to Wikipedia, “Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or ff) is fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator. Fans may maintain the creator’s characters and settings or add their own” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction).Wikiped… cites the 1960s fanzine Spockanalia as one of the first places where fans wrote their own stories populated with characters from the Star Trek TV show. Around the same time in Japan, independently published dōjinshi appeared, often based on already existing manga, anime, and video games. Today, the internet is rife with stories produced by fans of comics, TV shows, games, and movies of all types.

In this assignment, you will answer Danticat’s call by:

1. writing an ~2-page work of Wide Sargasso Sea fan fiction

You can respond to the quest