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matrixrefugeeThe whole fanfiction kerfuffle which Diana Gabaldon kicked up recently has lead me to come up with a few choice thoughts on fanfiction as an entity. In some ways, it's on the same wavelength as literary criticism: people look at a certain mythos and view it through different eyes, from different angles and with different perspectives, then write their views on it. The only difference is in the technique. One deals with the cool facts of the content of the mythos, while the other immerses itself in the details, filling in the gaps or taking some hints from canon and playing with them. I can't help thinking that Fair Use should be applied to LitCrit's more immersive twin, and that if critics have the right to write literary criticism, then fans have the right to write fanfiction. There's ideas that could be expressed in a fictional format just as easily in essay form, and in some cases, it might be easier to write it as a bit of fiction, than as a dry essay.
Case in point: there's a theory that's been sitting in my head since I started (re)reading/watching "Gormenghast", viz. that Steerpike might be Lord Sepulchrave's illegitimate son. Don't ask me where that idea came from, and God only knows if Mervyn Peake entertained the notion (I'm likely not the first fan to think of it, and I think I first entertained the notion back when first read the bricks in 2000), but I think it has some contextual legs to stand on:
1.) We don't know jack about Steerpike's parents or family background, but considering how insular the castle is, it's not unlikely that the servants may be as generational as the Groan family they serve.
2.) It could explain Steerpike's social climbing with the intent to pull that social order down. Consciously or unconsciously, he may have a sense of his rightful place as the heir to the earldom, and yet, because his lineage hasn't been acknowledged as such, he's seeking to destroy what has been denied him.
3.) Trouble is... His Lordship doesn't seem a whole lot interested in much beyond his library and the now meaningless rituals of his ordered life (which put one in mind of the rituals of court life in the Chinese Empire, and bear in mind that Mervyn Peake was born and grew up in China: I've noticed a few discreet Far Eastern details in some of the art design in the miniseries). This could pull the rug out from under my idea (not that it bothers me much; I'm going to go on thinking it anyway): I find it hard to imagine him and the Countess doing the necessary to produce Fuschia and Titus, let alone His Lordship having any bits on the side. But what do I know?
Now, one could rightly pen a paper about the above, but it might be more engaging to somehow pen this in a fictional format. I may do just this someday, once I feel ambitious enough and I can order it in that direction.
(And yep! New icon, featuring the Jonathan Rhys-Meyers incarnation of His Sneakiness. I imagine he'd be delighted to know that the actor who portrayed him grew up to play Henry VIII in "The Tudors" -- even though the real Jolly Prince Hal would easily make two of JRM ::laughs::)
Case in point: there's a theory that's been sitting in my head since I started (re)reading/watching "Gormenghast", viz. that Steerpike might be Lord Sepulchrave's illegitimate son. Don't ask me where that idea came from, and God only knows if Mervyn Peake entertained the notion (I'm likely not the first fan to think of it, and I think I first entertained the notion back when first read the bricks in 2000), but I think it has some contextual legs to stand on:
1.) We don't know jack about Steerpike's parents or family background, but considering how insular the castle is, it's not unlikely that the servants may be as generational as the Groan family they serve.
2.) It could explain Steerpike's social climbing with the intent to pull that social order down. Consciously or unconsciously, he may have a sense of his rightful place as the heir to the earldom, and yet, because his lineage hasn't been acknowledged as such, he's seeking to destroy what has been denied him.
3.) Trouble is... His Lordship doesn't seem a whole lot interested in much beyond his library and the now meaningless rituals of his ordered life (which put one in mind of the rituals of court life in the Chinese Empire, and bear in mind that Mervyn Peake was born and grew up in China: I've noticed a few discreet Far Eastern details in some of the art design in the miniseries). This could pull the rug out from under my idea (not that it bothers me much; I'm going to go on thinking it anyway): I find it hard to imagine him and the Countess doing the necessary to produce Fuschia and Titus, let alone His Lordship having any bits on the side. But what do I know?
Now, one could rightly pen a paper about the above, but it might be more engaging to somehow pen this in a fictional format. I may do just this someday, once I feel ambitious enough and I can order it in that direction.
(And yep! New icon, featuring the Jonathan Rhys-Meyers incarnation of His Sneakiness. I imagine he'd be delighted to know that the actor who portrayed him grew up to play Henry VIII in "The Tudors" -- even though the real Jolly Prince Hal would easily make two of JRM ::laughs::)
