Essays

A collection of my crotchety rantings, which some people, bizarrely enough, tend to find insightful. These aren't academic essays; they're observations about fandom, fanfiction, the differences between the book and the musical, and all the pet peeves one can build up when one hangs around other fans for too long.

This section has been taken down for the moment while I rewrite the essays. It will eventually include an introduction; a crash course in historical context for fanfiction writers; on revolution, hope for the future, and other such weight matters; on Eponine and the annoying prevalence of Eppie-Sue, Eponine the Abused and Virtuous Heroine, and Eponine the Psychotic Urchin; on Cosette and the tragic tendency to reduce her to the 1830s equivalent of a Barbie doll; on Enjolras, which must necessarily touch on the failure of the revolution of 1832; on slashing Enjolras and gender roles in fandom; on Grantaire, what he is, and what he most certainly is not; on the Society of the Friends of the ABC and more fun, friendly context; and, if I can scrape one together, a reading list of books that may be useful to Les Mis fanfiction authors.

Whew.

In the meantime, most of the old essays can still be found under the meta tag in my LiveJournal.