Writing Fanfiction: Translation, Transformative Works, and the Ship of Theseus

What do Chaucer, Shakespeare, and MsKingBean89 have in common? What unites them, beyond their abilities to speak to the masses of their time, pioneering brand new literary traditions that represent their own lived identity? RIP Shakespeare, you would’ve loved AO3.

Welcome to the second episode in our two-part series on fanfiction, in which we explore the enduring and necessary tradition of transformative works in literary innovation, historically and contemporarily. Touching on translation, copyright etiquette and law, and the very concept of identity - and by proxy originality - by way of the Ship of Theseus paradox, join us in our defence of adaptation, our celebration of literary legacy. The essential practice of fanfiction is the very backbone of artistic innovation, whether you’re Shakespeare or an anonymous AO3 username.

Music by Max Elliott

Bibliography

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• Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benso. Houghton Mifflin, 1987.

• Fathallah, Judith May. “From Foucault to Fanfic.” Fanfiction and the Author, Amsterdam University Press, 2017, pp. 17–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1v2xsp4.5.

• Higgins, Charlotte. “The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson review – a new cultural landmark” The Guardian, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/08/the-odyssey-translated-emily-wilson-review

• Hobbes, Thomas. “Of Identity and Difference” in The Collected Works of Thomas Hobbes. Routledge / Thoemmes Press, 1992.

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• Merriam-Webster. “Definition of FAN FICTION.” Merriam-Webster.com, 2020, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fan%20fiction.

• MsKingBean89. All the Young Dudes. Archiveofourown.org, 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/10057010

• Murdock, Chelsea J. “Making Fanfic: The (Academic) Tensions of Fan Fiction as Self-Publication.” Community Literacy Journal, 2017, 12, 1, 48 2017, https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=communityliteracy

• Price, Ludi. “Fan Fiction in the Library.” Transformative Works and Cultures, City University of London, 2017.

• Sarah Z. “An Exhaustive Defense of Fanfiction.” Youtube, 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvP_BLMgYBg.

• Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Washington Square Press, 2002.

• The Try Guys. “The Try Guys Find Their Harry Potter Patronus”, Youtube, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56cSkkfsI-U

• Woodmansee, Martha. “On the Author Effect: Recovering Collectivity”, The Construction of Authorship: Textual Appropriation in Law and Literature. Duke University Press, 1994.

• Wilson, Anna. "Fan Fiction and Premodern Literature: Methods and Definitions." Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 36. Harvard University Press, 2021. https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/2037/2877#:~:text=De%20Certeau%20writes%20of%20the,nomads%20poaching%20their%20way%20across