Before Fanfiction with Dr. Alexandra Edwards

Dr. Edwards earned her PhD here at UGA in 2017 and published her first book, Before Fanfiction: Recovering the Literary History of American Media Fandom with LSU Press, last year. Although “fandom” is typically male-coded and its inception reflexively associated with the original run of Star Trek, Edwards’ work demonstrates how pivotal women and queer writers were to the emergence of fan cultures in the early twentieth century. Before Fanfiction deepens our understanding of the intersections among modernism, regionalism, and print culture by tracing how they interweave among a diverse array of fan communities. Edwards brilliantly resituates Nella Larsen and Gwendolyn Brooks, for instance, in a genealogy of “race-bending” proto-fanfiction. Before Fanfiction won Honorable Mention for the MLA Prize for Contingent and Independent Scholars. Given the interdisciplinary nature of her work, Dr. Edwards’ lecture will appeal to students and faculty across the humanities, including English, History, the Institute for Women’s Studies, and the Institute for African American Studies.