Judith Fathallah

"You've eaten too much, you fat pig."When Jessica was thirteen years old, she met the Monkey. The Monkey lived inside her: a driving, fiery voice telling her that thinness was the only way. The only way to be safe, to be good, to be acceptable and above all, to escape from the cold, looming threat of approaching adulthood. Jessica listened to the Monkey, and it consumed her.

Monkey Taming

Whether you look at quantity, quality, or readership, we are in an unprecedented era of fan fiction. Thus far, however, the genre has been subject to relatively little rigorous qualitative or quantitative study--a problem that Judith May Fathallah remedies here through close analysis of fanfiction related to Sherlock, Supernatural, and Game of Thrones. Her large-scale study of the sites, receptions, and fan rejections of fanfic demonstrate how it often legitimates itself through traditional notions of authorship even as its explicit discussion and deconstruction of the author figure contests traditional discourses of authority and opens new spaces for writing that challenges the authority of media professionals.

How Fanfic Changes Popular Cultural Texts

Fanfiction and the Author

Sono bruttissima

The production, reception and discussion of fanfiction is a major aspect of contemporary global media. Thus far, however, the genre has been subject to relatively little rigorous qualitative or quantitative study-a problem that Judith M. Fathallah remedies here through close analysis of fanfiction related to Sherlock, Supernatural, and Game of Thrones. Her large-scale study of the sites, reception, and fan rejections of fanfic demonstrate how the genre works to legitimate itself through traditional notions of authorship, even as it deconstructs the author figure and contests traditional discourses of authority. Through a process she identifies as the 'legitimation paradox', Fathallah demonstrates how fanfic hooks into and modifies the discourse of authority, and so opens new spaces for writing that challenges the authority of media professionals.

"You've eaten too much, you fat pig." When Jessica was thirteen years old, she met the Monkey. The Monkey lived inside her: a driving, fiery voice telling her that thinness was the only way. The only way to be safe, to be good, to be acceptable and above all, to escape from the cold, looming threat of approaching adulthood. Jessica listened to the Monkey, and it consumed her. This is the illuminating story of a teenage girl's wanderings in darkness: the spiral down into madness, the terrible realities of an adolescent psychiatric unit, and the stark choice that she must either tame her monster - or die. Through memory, reflection, and enduring black humour, Jessica makes a tenuous peace with the world and with her emerging adult self.

Judith Fathallah

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