Fandom histories: Japan
So for those of you who don’t know, my specialty outside of fandom space is Japanese literature and right now I’m working my way towards a PhD. (*insert screaming gif here*) I think it’s really stupid to just absorb all this info, think about it, and then do nothing with it, so I’m going to try to share my occasional thoughts and feelings about the stuff I’m reading here. If that’s not your jam, you can block the tag “arukou attempts academia.” However, if you’re at all interested in knowing what the hell PhD students even do, please feel free to come with me on this weird bizarre journey. And feel free to ask questions if anything’s unclear. I’m trying to write in a way I think is more accessible, but if shit’s weird or unfamiliar, go ahead and hit me up for clarification. I’m also going to cross-post onto a tumblr exclusively for this, so if all you’re interested in is the Japanese Lit and not the fannish stuff, you can head over there and follow. On with the talk!
I know we talk a lot about “Classical fanfic” in the Western canon–Chaucer and Dante were writing fanfic of the Bible, just about every major poet has written poetry about the Greek/Roman deities at some point in time or another, philosophers have imagined conversations with Plato and Aristotle. But Japan has also been plugging away at its RPF for more than a thousand years.
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