Well, one fic wouldn't. But the range of discussion of a fic has been moving steadily toward the academic range for a while now. This is just the first one that a.) I loved and b.) I literally didn't understand what was going on in discussion. The range has been more in issue-themes--racism, misogynism, imperalism, etc--but at least with those, even if I'm tired of them, I have some knowledge of them. This discussion went *completely* to a place that not only I couldn't follow, I didn't want to.

Again, this isn't a criticism of the occurance--fandom is stuffed to a high percentage with academics who totally love this stuff. And gruding their joy isn't anything any sane fangirl is going to do. But I am watching in curiosity that the real discussions, when they occur, aren't as often about the fic as the themes of the fic, or in this case, the historical literary tradition of the structure of the fic. That's moving to an abstract place that isn't, to me, nearly as fun. It feels too far off from the point of the story--which should be, to tell a *story*--and into the concept of a story, and etc. If that makes sense.