Fanworks and Spoiler Alerts

Though it could be contested, I think that one of the most sincere forms of appreciation for any medium can be found in fanworks. Fanfiction and fanart are generally looked down on as being lesser in some way than original works, but I think that they can be just as important as, and many times better than, their source material. Fanfiction can be used to explore beloved characters and the situations they find themselves in. It can be used to understand and tease those characters into greater depths, or perhaps to simply stick to the surface interpretation, to create new insight into their paths within those works. Finally, fanfiction can be used to answer the greatest question off all: what if? What if Lily’s attention had been caught by Selden years earlier? What if she had not lost Gryce and married him? What if (to unfortunately spoil the end of the novel for those who have yet to finish it) Selden had returned sooner? What if (to further ruin the ending) Lily did not die?

There are few fanfiction works to be found on Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, but there are some. On Archive Of Our Own, also called AO3, two such well-written works can be found. The first, Does the heart still crave the spot it yearned on? by elapses (https://archiveofourown.org/works/271884) asks the question of Selden’s regard towards Lily years before the start of the novel. This fanfiction takes one evening, that of George and Bertha Dorset’s wedding, and asks: what if Selden and Lily ran into each other there? This is set years before they speak at length, years before there is any understanding between them, and all that is there are the vague speculations of a man who prefers to observe those who surround him, and the once-wealthy socialite attempting to renew her position. This is a Lily who is only a couple of years past her debut, who has only recently lost her entire life, and is desperately trying to find a way back, while still creating happiness. And this is a Selden who does not know her at all except as a manipulative young gold digger. This fanfic, which does an adequate job of replicating Wharton’s style and characterization at the beginning of the novel, asks: what if they were thrown together for a fifteen-minute conversation without anyone to interrupt or censure their words? It provides an introduction to why they speak to each other as they do in the first chapter, Selden’s reluctant rapture and Lily’s surprising approach, and sets up the push and pull of their interactions as they try to understand one another and constantly fall just short. The work ends with, “[a]nd as he stepped away from her, he realized there wasn’t a way to be sure if he had in his earlier assumptions of her character misjudged her entirely or captured her precisely,” which seems to be both Selden and Lily’s constant state within the novel as they try to come to terms with the other.

Perhaps even more interesting is a moment’s ornament by firstaudrina (https://archiveofourown.org/works/8918875). This work asks: what if Lily survived and Selden found her post-novel? This fanfiction is a brief look at the beginning of their “happily ever after.” Though their life would never be what Lily had imagined, they would never be wealthy, her reputation and virtue would never recover, her friends would never hold her in the same esteem, they would still be happy. And this fanfiction shows the possibility of that starting. It describes a short meeting in a cafe after Selden returns and his attempt to reconcile with the woman that he ran from. Through the conversation, the reader can see Selden’s regret, his realization that he would never be able to live without her with him in some way. Finally, we are able to see her thaw, giving in to the man that she has such strong feelings for that betrayed her but still returned. The work itself paints a poignant meeting written so closely to Wharton’s style that it almost seemed to be a continuation. Ending with, “Selden laughed and sat again, reaching over to boldly take her thin, cold hand in his. He had no intention of letting it go,” this fanfiction blends the cynical tone of the original novel with a bright sprig of hope in a deceptively easy way that truly works.

Though an underrated form of interpretation and reinterpretation of popular works, fanfiction can have a hidden wealth of works to become immersed in. These works only help to understand the characters and their motivation that readers fall in love with time and time again, as can be seen in both of there short works.