fanarchist n.

a fan who shuns organized fandom; a fan who advocates for individual or small-group activities

Fancyclopedia


SF Fandom

  • 1942 Voice of the Imagi-Nation (#26) Nov. 5 page image

    SIDNEY M DEAN vents his spleen on fanarchists [...] ‘So five fans can accomplish more by working singly on separate projects than the same five fans can working together on one project. Brother, it’ll take a helluva damn good man to prove that to me.’

  • 1944 J. B. Speer Fancyclopedia 30/1 page image Jack Speer bibliography

    fanarchists—Those who oppose the existence of a general or even regional fen organization…. Fully articulated, the theory is a species of rugged individualism which asserts that fen acting singly or in small natural groups can accomplish more with the same amount of work than they can thru a super-organization.

  • 1955 M. Wolf Fandora’s Box in Imagination Apr. 120/1 page image Mari Wolf

    I enjoyed reading it, but I didn’t agree at all. Guess I’m no Fanarchist at heart. To me, a soapbox makes a poor typewriter stand.

  • 1975 J. Boardman In Memoriam: David Mason [1924–1974] in SF Review (#12) Feb. 13/1 page image John Boardman bibliography

    During the 1950s Dave was active in the Fanarchist crowd—those largely New York fans who avoided both fannish and mundane politics on the grounds that fanning should be fun.

  • 2017 T. Robbins Last Girl Standing i. 30 page image Trina Robbins

    The Riverside Dive [sic] crowd called themselves Fanarchists, and most of them were anarchists, but nothing like today’s thugs who cover their faces with scarves and use any demonstration as an opportunity to break windows and set fire to cars.


Research requirements

antedating 1942

Last modified 2022-02-15 17:54:32
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.