‘We know Charlie’: A case of epistolary education and brave space in The Perks of Being a Wallflower fanfiction

Abstract

This article takes up epistolary writing and the chronicling of experiences with and the impact of sexual violence in an example of fanfiction written in response to the classic young adult (YA) trauma novel, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Because this novel explores the impact of childhood sexual abuse, this project posits that two particular fanfiction stories (a fic and its sequel) offers a theorization of Charlie’s letters as a kind of ongoing victim impact statement, which then produces a unique narrative opportunity to create brave space for witnessing experiences of sexual trauma in community. As such, the fanfiction represents a kind of epistolary education wherein Charlie’s letters are positioned as a learning tool and source of feminist development through co-created emotionally supportive experiences. Specifically, how Charlie’s epistolary trauma testimony is responded to by allies and friends Patrick, Sam and Mary Elizabeth in the fanfiction is educative, particularly through their collective employment of two key practices: being generous and being generative in their responses to Charlie’s letters. Their epistolary education then positions them to uniquely process and prepare to reunite with and show up for Charlie as ethical witnesses to his trauma testimony. Thus, these two fanfiction stories function as significant sites for learning about sexual violence, ethically supporting victim-survivors of it, as well as strengthening the characters’ senses of community and selves.