Celebrity Authorship and Afterlives in English and American Literature

"This book makes a clarifying and compelling case for the connections between authorial celebrity and authorial afterlives, two categories generally kept separate. Encompassing a diverse range of canonical and non-canonical authors, the essays collected here all make strong contributions to the vibrant field of literary celebrity studies." (Guy Davidson, University of Wollongong, Australia)

This book maps the history of literary celebrity from the early nineteenth century to the present, paying special attention to the authors’ crafting of their writerly self as well as the afterlife of their public image.This book maps the history of literary celebrity from the early nineteenth century to the present, paying special attention to the authors’ crafting of their writerly self as well as the afterlife of their public image. Case studies are John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, Eliza Cook, Herman Melville, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, J.D. Salinger and Zadie Smith.
Literary celebrity is part and parcel of modern literary culture, yet it continues to raise intriguing questions about the nature of authorship, writerly fame and the tension between authorial self-fashioning and public appropriation. This volume provides unique insights into the phenomenon.