
Fan Fiction in the 1700s - benbreen
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/02/surprising-18th-century-origins-fan-fiction/606532/
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SQueeeeeL
I really like how consistent people want/create extra narrative content for
things they engaged with. Almost everyone at least goes and looks at reviews
after they watched a movie/ go out and talks about it with friends. Not
letting a story end at the last page is just an ingrained human trait.

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Mirioron
I noticed at one point that this is the main reason why I consume half the
stories I do. I want to discuss and daydream about the stories I read or
watched.

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Nasrudith
People really are pretty consistent it seems theoughout the generations.

On a related non-sexual note Lancelot has them topped in the 13th century as a
later blatantly out of place French addition. It is only somewhat of a joke to
call him a Mary Sue who crept into canon. Mostly because the concepts didn't
appear to exist in the same way you couldn't call copying a book in a library
by hand copyright infringement.

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krtong
wasn’t the original intent of copyright law to protect the intellectual
property of authors, presumably like gulliver’s travels?

Also i love the idea of the site, and the idea of fan fiction being an
opportunity teach the youths to write stories (to a degree, for instance i
also worry too many professional instagram photographers can make you feel
like you cant shoot photography) Im honestly waiting for a “github” for
stories, movies, graphic novels, etc. Perhaps one already exists, perhaps
someone’s using github as such.

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pronoiac
AO3 covers written fanfic well. I think Tumblr was handling some of the
others?

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tzs
Or fanfiction.net. I find it easier to find things there than on AO3, and in
the categories I like reading stories in it seems to have a fair bit more.

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anthk
Don Quixote did it first. Even with some remarks against the apocryphal
sequel.

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Retric
Dante's Divine Comedy is an even earlier example that’s in the style of self
insert fanfiction. With an author avatar talking with famous people of
history, myth, and at the time present day.

With early work it’s hard to draw the line between evolution of a story and
what we would call fanfiction.

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goto11
A major difference is that all the characters in Dante were considered real,
historical persons. There is a long tradition of creating "historical fiction"
around historical characters, eg. the Pesudepigaphs, the Greek Tragedies.

Don Quixote on the other hand was known as a fictional character invented by
an author. Creating new works based on another authors fictional characters
and universe constitutes IMHO a distinct genre.

To put it in modern terms, Dante didn't infringe anyone's copyright, although
he might be liable for libel.

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Retric
I doubt Dante actually believed the Cerberus, Charon, Erichtho, Geryon,
Harpies, and other characters from Greek myth where actual historical figures.
It’s easy to think of mythology as separate from copyright, but it’s still
stories created by people not historical facts.

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goto11
Good point. My suggestion was more that "fan fiction" builds on a particular
work of fiction (which the author is a "fan" of).

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Retric
I think fanfiction starts that way, but a lot of worm fiction is written by
people who did not read or did not like the source material. They read a few
stories written by fanfiction authors and go from there. Eventually you get
ideas from the fan base that takes on a life of it’s own. This is especially
true of minor characters who get fleshed out really well in some specific
work.

It’s like how Superman’s source material is self contradictory where
individual works are different. So, you can have Smallville fanfiction or more
generic Superman mythology fanfiction.

