Anne Jamison

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Name: Anne Jamison
Also Known As: prof_anne
Occupation: Acafan, professor, author
Medium: Books, articles
Works: Editor of Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World, professor of university courses on fanfiction
Official Website(s): on WattPad, official author website, on twitter
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore: Related pages

Dr. Anne Jamison is a professor of English at the University of Utah who focuses on young adult literature and fanfiction. She is best known for curating and editing Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World in 2012-2013 and moderating the associated panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2013, featuring Christina Lauren, Amber Benson, Rachel Caine, Heidi Tandy, and V. Arrow. She also taught an associated course on fanfiction at Princeton University in 2015 which featured many fics referenced in Fic. She is a frequent commentator on fannish and fanfiction-related mainstream news articles and is a very visible, public acafan.

Fannish History

Jamison has been involved with fandoms including Good Omens, Twilight, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, 50 Shades of Grey, Hannibal, Sherlock, and Sherlock Holmes.

She was interviewed on the podcast I Met You On LJ in December 2020: 015. Fanfiction Class with Dr. Anne Jamison.

Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World

Fanfiction Panel at SDCC 2013

Fanfiction at Princeton University, Spring 2015

Complete Syllabus

A NOTE ON THE READINGS

Unlike television adaptation, professionally published books, plays, and movies, fanfiction itself is not designed to “stand on its own.” It’s designed for readers deeply familiar with the source material. Some fanfiction does stand on its own, but that isn’t really its intention, and it isn’t the standard by which it should be judged. For the purposes of this course, I’ve tried to find stories either that are comprehensible on their own, or I’ve provided some source material. We can learn a great deal from stories written for unfamiliar universes, but the reading experience will be very different from reading works based on sources we know well. To get the most complete understanding of fanfiction, students are asked to “find a fandom” (or return to one they know well) and read in that fandom in addition to the texts listed on the syllabus. In this way, students will have freedom to pursue their own interests for credit and will be able to read with a sense of increasing investment and familiarity. Features such as “trope of the week” and any common interests that arise during the semester will help keep this independent reading on track with the course.

Different kinds of reading, different ways of reading

Often in an English class, we invest great amounts of time in close reading and rereading single, well-known, apparently autonomous texts. We will do some of that, and we will subject several fanfictions to that kind of the attention. However, much of the course asks students to read very differently. We read across texts to look for patterns of influence, commonality, and difference. Often we’re reading for systems, patterns of imagery or repeating structures. Pay attention in lecture for pointers on how to read the material listed, especially if you are new to this kind of reading. If you aren’t sure, ask. Hint: if the story on the syllabus is 500,000 words long, I’m not assigning the whole thing.

Holmes Base

As a class we will be looking at stories adapted from a number of different sources, but Sherlock Holmes-related material will make consistent reappearances throughout the semester. The basics of Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler John Watson are familiar cultural touchstones the world over, and we’re used to seeing lots of different versions of them. This familiarity provides familiar ground for newcomers to fanfiction as well as some common ground to the class as a whole. Sherlock Holmes and his fans have played a significant role in the history of fanfiction and fan culture, and he is currently enjoying a moment of immense popularity with several professional adaptations that now function simultaneously as fanfiction and source.

Sherlock is one of the adaptations that we’ll be looking at most closely. It both inspires a very active fanfiction community and is self-consciously fanfiction itself. Practically speaking, it also

produces only three episodes every two years, so it’s not hard to catch up on (as opposed to, say, the 22 episodes/season of American network television Elementary, which we will also look at). Sherlock fanfiction will provide the common course fics for several tropes, with students augmenting these discussions with their own chosen fandom reading.

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Abridged Syllabus

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