Haunted Fanfiction: How Harry Potter Fanfiction Attempts to Reject the Author

Abstract

"Haunted Fanfiction: How Harry Potter Fanfiction Attempts to Reject the Author" sets out to analyze how Harry Potter fanfiction can be used to undermine J.K. Rowling's position as the author, and highest authority, of the Harry Potter universe. Central to this thesis is the notion that the medium of fanfiction functions as social critique and that it is used to comment on authorship through paratexts. The first chapter explores theories behind authorship, controversial authorship as well as fanfiction and paratexts. In the second chapter these theories are used to contextualize and analyze how fanfiction writers struggle with Rowling's presence in the Harry Potter universe. Consequently, fanfiction writers use paratexts to articulate their disapproval of Rowling's Tweets and use them and their works of fanfiction to appropriate the Harry Potter universe and thereby reject Rowling.