Sex sells (out): Neoliberalism and erotic fan fiction

Abstract

Fiction by fans is not new: despite the development of copyright law in the eighteenth century, unofficial sequels were common. For example, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) was followed by anonymous and pseudonymous sequels and satires, including Pamela’s Conduct in High Life (1741) and Conny Keyber’s (Henry Fielding’s) An Apology for the Life of Mrs Shamela Andrews (1741). The commercial publishing world still produces such work: Jane Austen sequels and retellings include Arielle Eckstut’s Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), Mitzi Szereto’s Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts (2011), P. D. James’s Death Comes To Pemberley (2011), Jo Baker’s Longbourn (2014), Val McDermid’s Northanger Abbey (2015), and Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible (2016). The market recognizes and legitimizes consumer demand for derivative fiction.