Camilla Wallin Lämsä: Yearning Hours. Desire, Darcymania, and Ironic Attachment in the Digital Jane Austen Fandom

Abstract:

Yearning Hours examines the phenomenon of “Darcymania” and readerly uses of character in the digital sphere. Situated at the intersection of feminist cultural studies, fan studies, and digital reading studies, and informed by affect theory and queer theory, the thesis investigates how the stoic Regency heartthrob of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy, has been reimagined in contemporary digital culture. Focusing in particular on rapidly spreading creations like GIFs, memes, headcanons, and hashtags on the platform Tumblr, the study shows that Darcy’s character inspires a wide range of attachments and intimacies, including ironic attachment, camp aesthetics, the performance of lesbian and female masculinities, and the formation of an intimate queer community. By analysing uses of character that differ, sometimes radically, from entrenched ideas about how romance readers and fangirls engage with literature, the study contributes to a better understanding of how digital modalities and affordances facilitate complex readerly attachments to fictional characters.