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The Invention of Celebrity
Frequently perceived as a characteristic of modern culture, the phenomenon of celebrity has much older roots. In this illuminating new book cultural historian Antoine Lilti shows that the mechanisms of celebrity were developed in Europe during the Enlightenment, well before films, yellow journalism and television, and then flourished during the Romantic period on both sides of the Atlantic. Figures from across the arts like Voltaire, Garrick and Liszt were all veritable celebrities in their time, arousing curiosity and passionate loyalty from their "fans." In Paris as in London, in Berlin as in New York, the rise of the press, new advertising techniques and the marketing of leisure brought a profound transformation in the visibility of celebrities: private lives were now very much on public show. Nor was politics spared this cultural upheaval: Marie-Antoinette, George Washington and Napoleon all experienced a political world transformed by the new demands of celebrity. And when the people suddenly appeared on the revolutionary scene, it was no longer enough to be legitimate, it was crucial to be popular too.
Lilti retraces the profound social upheaval precipitated by the rise of celebrity and explores the ambivalence felt towards this new phenomenon. Jean Jacques Rousseau's career is an exemplary case. A celebrated and adulated writer, Rousseau ended up cursing the effects of his "disastrous celebrity" marred by the feeling that he had become a public figure whom people everywhere could fashion as they wished. Both sought after and denounced, celebrity evolved as the modern form of personal prestige, assuming the role that glory played in the aristocratic world in a new age of democracy and evolving forms of media. To this day, it is of course a type of glory whose value is still disputed.
Lilti's perceptive history uncovers the birth of celebrity in the 18th century, while at the same time shining valuable light on the continuing importance of celebrity in today’s world.
Lilti retraces the profound social upheaval precipitated by the rise of celebrity and explores the ambivalence felt towards this new phenomenon. Jean Jacques Rousseau's career is an exemplary case. A celebrated and adulated writer, Rousseau ended up cursing the effects of his "disastrous celebrity" marred by the feeling that he had become a public figure whom people everywhere could fashion as they wished. Both sought after and denounced, celebrity evolved as the modern form of personal prestige, assuming the role that glory played in the aristocratic world in a new age of democracy and evolving forms of media. To this day, it is of course a type of glory whose value is still disputed.
Lilti's perceptive history uncovers the birth of celebrity in the 18th century, while at the same time shining valuable light on the continuing importance of celebrity in today’s world.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2014
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148 people want to read
About the author
Antoine Lilti
18 books2 followersAntoine Lilti teaches social and cultural history at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and is former editor of the Annales journal. He is the author of Figures publiques : l'invention de la célébrité (1750-1850) and co-editor of Penser l'Europe au XVIIIe siècle: commerce, civilisation, empire.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 31, 2017
This is a scholarly, academic examination of the origins of celebrity, between 1750 to 1850. The author states that the concept of celebrity first appeared during the eighteenth century, in a time of profound change, when leisure first became commercialised.
The book begins in February, 1778, when Voltaire – aged 85 – returned to Paris for the first time in thirty years. His arrival generated immense excitement; he was recognised, celebrated, but also mocked. Even those who had never read his book knew both his name and his face. The sensation of his arrival came at a time when engravings and portraits were first being reproduced cheaply for the public. Modern celebrity is linked not only to an increase in reproduced images, but to an increase in literacy rates; resulting in far more newspapers and journals being printed and aimed at many different markets – from the upmarket, to the scandal sheets.
The celebrity of those on the stage, actors, actresses and singers, rested on the interweaving of their personality and the characters they played. Indeed, the term, ‘star’ was used to mean the most important person in any spectacle – the ‘star billing.’ Lilti examines how celebrity is not, as many imagine, linked to modern technological revolutions, but was developing far before this time, due to the rise of consumer society.
Although the book looks at many different examples of celebrity – from Byron, Napeleon and Rousseau, to Marie Antoinette – this is more about how the concept of celebrity grew, rather than specific individuals. This aids understanding of the importance of celebrity culture in today’s society and shows how there is nothing new in curiosity about the famous to emotional identification and shared public interest in individuals. An interesting read about the birth of celebrity in the eighteenth century.
The book begins in February, 1778, when Voltaire – aged 85 – returned to Paris for the first time in thirty years. His arrival generated immense excitement; he was recognised, celebrated, but also mocked. Even those who had never read his book knew both his name and his face. The sensation of his arrival came at a time when engravings and portraits were first being reproduced cheaply for the public. Modern celebrity is linked not only to an increase in reproduced images, but to an increase in literacy rates; resulting in far more newspapers and journals being printed and aimed at many different markets – from the upmarket, to the scandal sheets.
The celebrity of those on the stage, actors, actresses and singers, rested on the interweaving of their personality and the characters they played. Indeed, the term, ‘star’ was used to mean the most important person in any spectacle – the ‘star billing.’ Lilti examines how celebrity is not, as many imagine, linked to modern technological revolutions, but was developing far before this time, due to the rise of consumer society.
Although the book looks at many different examples of celebrity – from Byron, Napeleon and Rousseau, to Marie Antoinette – this is more about how the concept of celebrity grew, rather than specific individuals. This aids understanding of the importance of celebrity culture in today’s society and shows how there is nothing new in curiosity about the famous to emotional identification and shared public interest in individuals. An interesting read about the birth of celebrity in the eighteenth century.
September 23, 2018
This is quite the well-versed book; seemingly vain and vapid, the subject of fame is handled with sophisticated care throughout this book. Defining and tracing fame throughout millenniae, this books is much other than what teflon and tabloids lend to the word nowadays. An interesting and engaging book.
May 4, 2020
I don't usually read academic history books, and the fact that this took me 10 months to read perhaps indicates why. The prose is pretty dry (maybe not helped by the fact that it's translated from French) but the ideas are interesting.
From this book I learned that people have been — it's hard to write about this without getting judgemental — extremely interested in celebrities for centuries. There's so much going on, psychologically, both for the celebrities and for the fans. I found the book a bit frustrating because it documented the behaviour without getting into the psychological stuff very deeply — it's more of a historical treatment. Not a critique, because that's what it set out to be. But it left me wanting more.
From this book I learned that people have been — it's hard to write about this without getting judgemental — extremely interested in celebrities for centuries. There's so much going on, psychologically, both for the celebrities and for the fans. I found the book a bit frustrating because it documented the behaviour without getting into the psychological stuff very deeply — it's more of a historical treatment. Not a critique, because that's what it set out to be. But it left me wanting more.
December 3, 2019
Great piece of scholarly work
February 23, 2020
A thorough insight into the phenomenon that is celebrity. Many great stories from old times about the craziness of fans and people who think that they don’t care but eventually do care and do feel affected by the stardom of a few, which proves that the mob mentality is very real and that in we’re all potentially nuts.
January 25, 2018
Lilti believes celebrity was invented in the middle of the 18th century. In this book, he chronicles its first 100 years, from 1750 to 1850. The first celebrities, he argues, were the Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire and Russeau. These literary men were born at a time when literacy rates were high, allowing a wider number of people to read their works, and engravings and portraits were reproduced cheaply for the public. As a result, everyone - including those who couldn't read - knew who they were.
This familiarity had its drawbacks. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know every little detail of these men's personal lives and approached them as if they were old friends - even when they had never met before. This is something both men - and pretty much everyone who has achieved notoriety since then - has struggled with.
From these men, Lilti looks at the lives of famous queens and emperors such as Marie Antoinette and Napoleon as well as singers, actresses and stars of the theatrical stage to chronicle the evolution of celebrity. Far from being a modern invention made possible by the new advances in technology, the curiosity of the public for those individuals who have achieved stardom is really nothing new.
Just one small drawback: the tone of the book is very academic and, at times, dry, which can put off casual readers. All in all, though, it's a very insightful read.
This familiarity had its drawbacks. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know every little detail of these men's personal lives and approached them as if they were old friends - even when they had never met before. This is something both men - and pretty much everyone who has achieved notoriety since then - has struggled with.
From these men, Lilti looks at the lives of famous queens and emperors such as Marie Antoinette and Napoleon as well as singers, actresses and stars of the theatrical stage to chronicle the evolution of celebrity. Far from being a modern invention made possible by the new advances in technology, the curiosity of the public for those individuals who have achieved stardom is really nothing new.
Just one small drawback: the tone of the book is very academic and, at times, dry, which can put off casual readers. All in all, though, it's a very insightful read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews