Textual engagement

[tamaranth]

Midrash is / are exegetical stories, written to explore textual loopholes or bring silent voices to life. Historically, midrash arises out of Torah. But it seems to me that what we do as fans is a variation on that same theme -- the same kind of practice, only with a different sort of beloved text at its heart. Fans bring a midrashic sensibility to every sourcetext with which we fall in love

A very interesting post drawing parallels between midrash and fanfiction -- the latter in its widest sense, including pro fiction such as Anita Desai's The Red Tent -- as sometimes serious, sometimes playful ways of engaging with the text. The kind of discussion I have in mind when I insist that fanfic is about much more than simply pairing off characters who aren't or shouldn't be paired.

Comments

[elinor.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that link!