Jane Austen fan fiction: intertextuality and fantasy in the austenmania phenomenon

• Grant number: 17/24577-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Guardini Teixeira Vasconcelos
• Grantee: Maria Clara Pivato Biajoli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This post-doctoral research proposal is focused on the English author Jane Austen (1775-1817) and on the recent phenomenon of her popularization, responsible for the publication of sequels, variations and modern retellings of her novels. The main purpose here is to study the stories written by fans, called fan fictions, of the novels Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion and their intertextual and intermedia nature, since they establish a complex dialogue with the originals, with movie and TV adaptations of these novels and with previous fan fiction. These stories will also be compared to patterns and tendencies observed in a previous research project about Pride and Prejudice fan fiction in order to understand the preference of fans for this novel and the popular image of Austen as a writer of romantic and naïve stories for women. In a general sense, then, this proposal aims to understand the ways fan fiction rebuilds Austen's work, produces a new interpretation about the author and how it can even provide the grounds for the rise of a new conception of literature. (AU)