A smattering of meta on the way to the meta

[kiki_eng]

hollowhearts prompted, "share a piece of fandom meta you think everyone should read (either general or fandom-specific)" and I don't know if I believe that there's one piece of fandom meta that everyone should read. There's stuff that I've enjoyed immensely and that has enriched my life, but, I do don't know about this everyone should read business.

Except that I do believe that there are foundational genres of meta that kind of set you up as a fan. These are:

• A history of fandom and fanfiction in its own right and in the context of the wider literary canon, especially as part of that canon.

• The history and development of the AO3. (If you spend a lot of time on it or that website is otherwise important to you.)

• The patriarchy and you: racism, phobias, and oppression within fandom.

The first genre has a lot to do with external validation and seeing yourself in the world, and so my rec for this evening is:

The Boy Who Lived Forever by Lev Grossman, which was published in 2011 by Time and remains the best overview of fandom for outsiders that I've ever read - it's not a bad overview for insiders, either - though the landscape has shifted a bit in the intervening years.