Roots to Branches: retrospective and prospective intertextuality of British fanfiction (in works by J. R. R. Tolkien).

Abstract

Development of participatory culture together with computer network technologies has given rise to amateur network fiction: fanfiction. Fanfic texts emerge as derivative works of fiction reproducing transformed components of popular canon. The linguistic and cultural importance of fanfiction, underpinned by its overwhelming popularity, explains the urgent need in its comprehensive philological analysis. The article studies intertextuality as the creative principle of fanfiction, introducing the concepts of the intertextual vector of a fiction text, retrospective and prospective intertextuality, and makes use of specific examples to analyse it. A key feature of fanfiction is its intertextual imbalance. Fanfics are derivative texts created by retrospective intertextuality (references to the precedent canon). At the same time, fanfics rarely become precedent texts, weakening their prospective intertextuality. A rare example of intertextually balanced fanfic is the Middle-earth novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. Their retrospective intertextuality relies upon the Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf”, Scandinavian and Finnish epics, Old Germanic legends, novels by F. Cooper, and other texts. Such a wide scope of precedent texts makes the novels culturally rich and profound, which, together with their gripping plot and unique characters, ensures their precedence and the balance between retrospective and prospective intertextuality, with the latter implemented in countless fanfics. Prospects for further study include research into canon transformation in fanfics and intertext typology in fanfiction.