"When the RP gets in the way of the F": Star Image and intertextuality in real person(a) fiction

This paper uses a case study from the Hockey RPF community to explore textual processes in Real Person(a) Fiction, and particularly the intertextual relationship between different facets of the star image and the RPF character. I argue that the crisis in legitimacy faced by the fandom revealed a dense of web of intertextuality between the celebrity’s public and official private personas, the imagined real person behind them, and the RPF character, all involved in a “side by side” reading (Derecho 2006) of the similarities and differences between the celebrity fan object and the fan work. I build on Derecho’s (2006) concept of archontic literature as well as Stasi’s (2006) concept of “intertextuality in the second degree” to highlight the complex relationship between celebrity persona, RPF character, and other seemingly unrelated elements which may be drawn into an “archive” by RPF readers and writers and show the collectively created RPF character was overwhelmed by these other elements.