Origins of Fanfic

[Rosmerta]

::looking around a little shyly; this is my first OT foray:: 

Any one of the apparently many for/against fanfic people willing to 
offer up a definitive (or failing that, speculative) but apolitical 
precie on the origins of fanfic? I'm just assuming it's a Net-driven 
phenomenon (or message-board driven, for those who remember pre-
Internet PC communication) but perhaps not? And no, I'm not counting 
the Aeneid here (as someone suggested on the main list); I think we 
all know we're talking about something a little different. 

Also, a couple of months ago someone posted a message with a sig that 
quoted from some apparently scholarly tome commenting on the validity 
of fanfic as a response to art, or some such sentiments. Anybody want 
to own up to that or remember the book? 

~Rosmerta, who's morbidly curious about a genre she'd never even 
heard of till six weeks ago.