Fire Up the T.A.R.D.I.S., I'm going to Chicago!

[fictional]

So, there's this conference. Film and Science: Fictions, Documentaries and Beyond. I had wanted to go to this conference anyway. Then, I noticed they were...uh...having a Doctor Who area.

...

*crickets chirping*

It was clear I had to send them something. I ended up writing the abstract on the subway. People looked over my shoulder as I wrote things about ourobourouses (ouroborii???) and the Doctor, and gave me weird (very weird) glances. The paper ended up being entitled, "When Worlds Continue: The Doctor's Adventures in Fandom and Metatexuality." The idea was something about which I was am ridiculously excited, and am just dying to write. But I really felt like I couldn't, in all conscience, write the damn thing (even if it is apropos to my dissertation topic, it's not actually part of it) unless it had, well, a venue.

AND NOW IT DOES. Oh god, I'm so excited. I'm seriously so thrilled. I can't figure out if it's that I get to write about something I care so much for right now, or if it's because it's one of the first few national conferences I've been accepted to, w/o you know, being an advisee of the organization president.

It's probably silly. But I can't help it! So um. Yeah. I'll just be over here kvelling in the corner.

Thanks, Doc. You really made my night ;-)

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!! I hope you'll let us see it when it's done... can't be anything but EXCELLENT!

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I will totally do an LJ preview when I have a draft.

[jbs-teeth.livejournal.com]

Kali, this is so interesting! I would love to read the abstract (and the paper when you're done). I took a glance at the website and looked at the doc for the "Doctor Who" area: this (and most of the others) would just be so cool to peak in on.

Alas, there's probably little call for Web 2.0 app developers to attend. :)

I am thinking of hitting Chicago in Ocotber, though (one of my oldest friends lives up there). I wonder if I could sneak in...

[jbs-teeth.livejournal.com]

OH! And I meant to ask you about your dissertation?

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

It is called: Sequels, Series and Shared Worlds: Constructing Fictional Realities in Children's Literature, Fantasy and Popular Culture. Does (or will do, when it is finished, I hope) pretty much what it says on the tin. I'm looking at fictional universes that inspire continuation, whether by the same or subsequent authors, and asking what it is about the text that makes the universe so real that we want to explore its hidden corners, or simply find out what happens next, or revisit it from alternate angles. Methods of continuation include: (1) allusion, quotation and reference, (2) adaptations (3) unauthorized sequels and (4) serial narratives. At the moment it starts with the Renaissance and goes forward to the present moment; one assumes that it's going to pare down. At least, we all hope so, or it's going to be thousands of pages long, and I will never be able to call myself "the doctor" - a greater motivating force that you might imagine. God, I'm a dork.

[jbs-teeth.livejournal.com]

Seems like you could do an entire dissertation on this topic around Jane Austen alone. The number of "Pride and Prejudice" fiction available today boggles the mind. There are dozens of Darcy-Elizabeth and their children books out there.

I can't even begin to contemplate the number of sources you'll have to start with to find a groove. Thousands of pages for sure!

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Yah. I'm a huge Austen fan. I've read so many of the continuations, and they never, ever are satisfying. It is tragic. I think they all really miss the point; they aren't ironic, or even funny. Also, mostly they are slavish imitations, all starting with some variation of "It is a truth universally acknowledged."

I'm incredibly fond of Georgette Heyer for, among other reasons, having something of her own to say, being stylishly funny, and for building a world of her own, rather than using Austenian phrases like cardboard cut-outs without ever comprehending their actual meaning.

[jbs-teeth.livejournal.com]

I read the worst one ever the other day; so disappointing. God, it was just awful: "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict." Don't even ask.

I also read "Darcy's Daughters" and "The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy," the latter also utterly horrible. Basic premise: one of the daughters marries an older man who proceeds to WHIP her in the bedroom, forcing her to flee to Italy to become an opera singer. I mean... whips her! With a whip! And none of her sisters believe her.

It was... incomprehensible.

Hrm... I love Bath, though. It is a gorgeous freaking city. I've never made it over for the Austen festival, though (coming up in the next couple of months, actually).

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Bath too! But I haven't been since I was 16 or so. I've always wanted to go to the Austen festival, but sadly, never managed to work it out.

I've not read Confessions... but it sounds alarming.

I have read Mr. Darcy's Daughters but although it's not so badly written, I was distinctly off put by the whole - "I want to marry this guy, but he's gay" thing. And then she goes on to whippings in Alethea. I don't, I suppose, need my regency-era stuff to be queer friendly (though it'd be nice if I felt the author was, even if the period & characters ought not to be), but why go there at all???

I just don't understand it.

Also the ones where they write Elizabeth/Darcy porn?? I think it's called Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife or something. I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

But people seem to be making a decent chunk of change writing them...How hard can it be, I wonder?

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Aww. Thanks!

Rach tells me that Chicago is super Torchwood-y these days; she's been spending a bunch of time in Millienium Park this weekend, and is finding it very Jack-spirational. I haven't been there since I was a kid, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Everything can use a web 2.0 developer! You should totally sneak in ;-)

I'll post the abstract in a moment. I just realized that you guys are totally an extra resource of awesomeness that I should do everything in my power to exploit ;-)

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

Abstract here! (http://kalichan.livejournal.com/144519.html)

[sanginmychains.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the paper! The effect of an engaged fan community on a serial narrative, and the mechanisms of canon creation just fascinate me. What's your thesis?

[kalichan.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by that too; large chunks of my dissertation are concerned with that very theme (I mention something about it, in my reply to jbs_teeth up thread. I just posted the abstract here (http://kalichan.livejournal.com/144519.html) in a f-locked post. I'd love to hear your thoughts if anything leaps to mind!