Before Fanfiction: Recovering the Literary History of American Media Fandom

by Alexandra Edwards

Before Fanfiction investigates the overlapping cultures of fandom and American literature from the late 1800s to the mid-1940s, exploding the oft-repeated myth that fandom has its origins in the male-dominated letter columns of science fiction pulp magazines in the 1930s. By reexamining the work of popular American women writers and their fans, Alexandra Edwards recovers the literary history of American media fandom, drawing previously ignored fangirls into the spotlight.

Genres: Nonfiction

190 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 2023

Reviews

[Hannah Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and complex treatment of the history of fanfiction that writes women and others on the margins back into the overarching story. I found this work academically rigorous while also entertaining - no mean feat. Would recommend to my literary and fan friends.

[Cait · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this to use as a dissertation source but omg. This was a great book to just read, history-wise. 5/5.

[Natalie]

There is something very validating about reading fan experiences from a hundred years ago, and them being more or less the same from your own experience as a teenager. As the author states in the introduction, this book is posing questions and ideas, not necessarily analyzing them to completion. And I love what's touched on: responding to fiction by creating your own, literary clubs being used for non-professional writers to master their crafts, and fan letters as a way to create a form of community with pieces of established art and their worlds. I am definitely intrigued to read more on fan studies.

The wordy chapter on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lost the plot. Lots of skipping over clearly racist stereotypes in her works and excuses made as to why the problematic things that occured in Rawlings' life and in her novels were negligible. Bit of a buzzkill for me by the end. I think the concluding chapter about racebending and Nella Larsen's 'Sanctuary' deserved that page space far more.

[Allie Gator · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always find it a bit hard to talk about more academic works in terms of a ‘review’ but I did read this so I must talk about it.

I really like what Edwards was going for in terms of trying to redefine the origin/ understanding of where modern media fandoms and practices come from. She traces back many practices to the late 1800/ early 1900, showcasing different actives (like women's clubs) that could morph into the modern practice.

There is a lot of great information here that I will probably incorporate into my own work but I did have one issue. (Well many, but one that sticks out). Edwards goes on for a considerable amount of the work discussing the work of Marjorie Rawling in relation to fan letters. The problem is this takes up probably about a quarter of the book with many facts being near tertiary in need. Clearly Edwards is a fan of Rawling’s work (power to you) but it is not incorporated well and sticks far apart from the rest of her ideas.