An Extensive Republic - pg. 364-381
Women Writing in the Early Republic
Joanne Dobson & Sandra A Zagarell
"…although the individualized public identity that writing would confer on authors of both sexes by the middle of the nineteenth century was unthinkable in the early republic, writing did tend to bestow on women a form of semi-anonymous public identity grounded in their writing alone, for individual writers were often expressly identified by means of their publications" (368).
So, tomorrow morning I am defending my thesis. I don't know about the rest of you, but whenever I am knee-deep in a project, I am reminded of it everywhere, and the readings for class this week were no exception. As I read through the chapter, I was struck by the similarities between these early women writers and the women who are posting fiction regularly on fanfiction communities online. These women are working in their own modern version of "leisure time" (if we even really have any nowadays) and are frequently posting their fictions anonymously or under a pen name. Fanfiction authors are also typically identified by their writing alone, or are able to create their own authorial presence in online communities or public blogs associated with their writing pseudonyms.
In a text that I use for my thesis, Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture, Henry Jenkins points out the value that this fan writing may have for modern women, "Women who have low prestige jobs or who are homemakers can gain national and even international recognition as fan writers and artists; fan publishing constitutes an alternative source of status, unacknowledged by the dominant social and economic systems but personally rewarding nevertheless"(159).
I can't help but find this intriguing. While some women in the 1820s were making the big bucks (or any bucks) from publishing their work, others were participating in print culture simply for love of writing, similar to these current trends in fan participation. Although women have come a long way as far as authorship, these marginalized communities of readers and writers may suggest that some of the practices used in early American print culture, namely the anonymity of women's work, are still valued today as they create a public barrier and encourage writing for writing's sake, rather than for monetary gain.
(Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge, 1992. Print.)
How interesting that you connect the more "gentile" of early American women writers to today's fan fiction writers--writing for simply the joy of it. I dig the parallel. Especially when, in today's society, it can be difficult to remember that people do indeed do things without the motivation of making a buck.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck with your defense tomorrow morning!
First of all, you will ROCK your thesis committee. It will be awesome....and the best part...IT IS FINISHED!
ReplyDeleteSecond, thanks for bringing to light something I hadn't thought much of....the issue of status. I've been pondering the "why use a pen name" thing and wondering what you would get from that, but you've answered it. You would know you were loved and read and followed and even if no one knew your real identity there is a kind of fame and status to having a following.
Good luck tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHi Emilee, Congratulations on finishing your thesis. I am sure that your defense will go well. And thanks for making connections between female writers of the early nineteenth century with fanfiction writers today. I think you're right about the possibilities of gaining recognition beyond the restrictive boundaries of our daily lives. Good stuff. dw
ReplyDeleteLove the connections! Thanks for sharing. Maybe I will start writing some fan fiction one day....
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