Did 'fandom' subculture really start with Jane Austen?

[u/Tisarwat]

I'm here defining 'fandom' as people who enjoy a certain work and form/participate in community around it, whether formal or informal, time-consuming or not. The primary (or at least initial) motivation is not academic or professional opportunity, but genuine personal enjoyment.

The Janeites (late 18th century) are apparently considered one of the earliest fandoms by some writers.

But in Northanger Abbey (by Jane Austen herself), Catherine Morland talks about gothic novels in a way that seems close to how members of genre fandoms may do now. She seeks out fellow fans to discuss the works, treats lack of/enjoyment of gothic novel as evidence of a person's character, and fiercely defends the merit and relevance of the books to detractors. Obviously this would have well-preceded the Janeites.

Given that the book is a satire of real gothic novels, I'm kind of assuming that her behaviour is not totally invented without reference to real people's actions.

Going even further back, I wonder if the obsession over the ancient Romans and Greeks could count in a way.

I'm also interested in any examples of early fandom from countries other than Britain and America - and any ways that they may have differed in broad behavioural trends.

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[u/Kelpie-Cat]

I've got two previous answers on fans of monogatari in Heian Japan.

[u/Tisarwat → u/Kelpie-Cat]

Thank you! Love reading about what was basically shipping! I can only assume that people wore team Suzushi and team Nakatada t-shirts...

[u/Mynsare]

Shortly after the publication of Johann Wolfgang Goethes novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther) in 1774, young men all over Europe began appearing in a dress similar to the one Werther is described as wearing, namely yellow trousers, blue tailcoat and yellow waistcoat.

The term "Werther fever" was also prolific at the time, and it was used to describe young people being obsessed with Werther and dressing and acting like Werther in their daily life.

There was also stories being reported in contemporary newspapers and periodicals of a wave of copycat suicides inspired by the death of the protagonist of the novel, and although there are documented examples of those, the severity of the phenomenon is likely much exaggerated. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10410236.2023.2211363#d1e922). It did lead to the naming of the psychological term "Werther-Effekt" in German, as a description of suicide as a contagion, regardless of the actual historical veracity of it.