The Fear of Writing - Jacques Derrida

The following clip is from the 2002 movie Derrida.

The Wonderful World of Rita Mae Brown

            Rita Mae Brown is a renowned New York Times best-selling author, who has penned dramatic feminist works such as Ruby Fruit Jungle. More so, Brown’s Mrs. Murphy Mystery Series is beloved by a plethora of her fans. She has a passion for animals and has openly admitted to liking them better than people, at times. I have to say, I agree with her on all counts! Brown is a traditionalist when it comes to the writing process. Therefore, unlike most of 21^st century inhabitants she does not own a computer. What? No computer? Surely she couldn’t have any presence whatsoever in the world of social media! Well, that’s not actually true. I did some searching and I must say that I was more than surprised when I found her on Facebook. How does Ms. Brown’s Facebook page measure up against the assigned lecture from this past week of class? Let’s take a look.

            I know what you are probably thinking. “Okay Teddianne, you found a Facebook page for Rita Mae Brown. She doesn’t own a computer. Add up 2 and 2 and figure out that it was fan created!” I am not going to lie, that is what I thought at first too. So initially I was going to move along and look for another published author. However, something prompted me to nose around her site and I discovered some interesting facts.

            Yes, Rita Mae Brown’s site is fan based. On the information page there is the following disclaimer: “This is the Facebook page for the bestselling author, Rita Mae Brown. Rita Mae Brown DOES NOT administer this page. It is run by one of her fans with her approval, solely to support a community built around the author and her works.” It seems (to my anyway) that a fan created and operated site could be a bad idea for an author. But then again, perhaps I am just a person who has a difficult time letting go of control. Nevertheless, allowing someone else to administer her site works for Brown. Although she does not run the site herself, she still sends hand written blurbs to the administrator so her fans know what is going on in her life and career. The administrator transcribes these handwritten letters and posts them as Facebook notes. Oddly it adds somewhat of a personal touch to Brown’s Facebook page. Maybe I just like the romantic notion that the personal message directed to her Facebook fans by Brown was originally inked with pen and paper? At any rate, it works.

            Overall Rita Mae Brown’s page is informative and entertaining. The administrator must go back and forth quite a bit with Ms. Brown, because her voice still comes shining through even though she does not type messages, notes, or responses. If anyone is a fan of Brown’s work, I would highly recommend checking out her Facebook page.