Oh, the angst! Emotional immersion in Jane Austen fan fiction

Over the past few decades, the fandom of Jane Austen has become a transmedia fandom. As a consequence, Jane Austen fan fiction may not just be based on the novels, but also on adaptations and other texts. I examine what this means for the fictional worlds which are represented in Jane Austen fan fiction, and the texts through which these worlds are evoked and experienced. More specifically, I examine how VickyU+2019s U+2018All in a NameU+2019 and WendiU+2019s U+2018A Lesson Hard LearnedU+2019 use the resources at their disposal to invite emotional responses. To get a grip on the high U+2018angstU+2019 rating of these stories, I turn to narrative theories on U+2018storyworlds,U+2019 and particularly on emotional immersion. Marie-Laure Ryan and Marco Caracciolo have posited that texts can invite readers to have a particular experience. Catherine Emmott has added that readers use mental representations of fictional situations, or U+2018contextual frames,U+2019 to understand stretches of narrative text. I claim that readers of fan fiction also rely on mental representations of the ficU+2019s source world, which I call U+2018narrative frames.U+2019 In the case of Pride and Prejudice, this world is a transmedial world, because fans often base their mental representations on more than AustenU+2019s novel alone. A comparative analysis of U+2018All in a NameU+2019 and U+2018A Lesson Hard Learned,U+2019 in which the U+2018narrative frameU+2019 concept is used as a heuristic tool, reveals that these fics use textual strategies to set up a contrast between the readerU+2019s narrative frames and the events of the fic. This, together with U+2018angst-yU+2019 story content, invites readers to feel a sense of anxiety, apprehension, and loss. This storytelling practice is rooted in a highly specific discourse, or system of knowledge and evaluation, which is constantly being defined and redefined by the Austen fandom.

ISBN:9781848881945

Publication year:2014

Accessibility:Closed