Fantastisk litteratur och inskränkta fans
Tolkning och meningskapande i Science fiction forum 1960-1980
This Master´s thesis examines the conceptual ideas of science fiction and science fiction fandom produced in the Swedish fanzine Science Fiction Forum (1960-) between the years 1960 and 1980. Science Fiction Forum was and still is a fanzine published by Skandinavisk Förening för Science Fiction (Scandinavian Science Fiction Club). Both the club and the fanzine are a part of the phenomenon called fandom.A fandom is a collective of people called fans who form a community by sharing a special interest in a special object. The fanzine is one of the many material products produced by fans within a certain fandom. Science Fiction Forum and Skandinavisk Förening för Science Fiction were founded in 1959 and are a part of swedish science fiction fandom, where the object of fandom is literary science fiction..The primary focus of this thesis is the meta discussion on science fiction and science fiction fandom in Science Fiction Forum. The examination is organized around five different questions; what were the conceptual ideas of science fiction in the fanzine, how was the genre defined by the writers of the fanzine, what were the conceptual ideas of fandom, how did the writers of the fanzine view the status of the genre outside fandom and how did the writers of the fanzine answer the critics of the genre.The analysis shows that the discussion on science fiction and fandom in Science Fiction Forum functioned as a way to interpretate and produce meaning to the reading of science fiction and fan identity. The result is supported by other research on fandom, which shows that there is an ongoing discussion between fans within fandom about the reading and understanding of the object of fandom. It is a constant discussion were different interpretations of the object of fandom are revalued and renegotiated.