| Description |
1 online resource (ix, 280 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-261) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction -- The celebrity emerges as the deformed king: Richard III, the king of the dunces, and the overexpression of Englishness -- The growth of celebrity culture: Colley Cibber, Charlotte Charke, and the overexpression of gender -- The canon of print: Laurence Sterne and the overexpression of character -- The fate of overexpression in the age of sentiment: David Garrick, George Anne Bellamy, and the paradox of the actor -- The memoirs of Perdita and the language of loss: Mary Robinson's alternative to overexpression -- Coda: overexpression and its legacy. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
| Access |
Use copy Restrictions unspecified star MiAaHDL |
| Reproduction |
Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011. MiAaHDL |
| System Details |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
| Processing Action |
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL |
| Summary |
"How can people in the spotlight control their self-representations when the whole world seems to be watching? The question is familiar, but not new. Julia Fawcett examines the stages, pages, and streets of eighteenth-century London as England's first modern celebrities performed their own strange and spectacular self-representations. They include the enormous wig that actor Colley Cibber donned in his comic role as Lord Foppington--and that later reappeared on the head of Cibber's cross-dressing daughter, Charlotte Charke. They include the black page of Tristram Shandy, a memorial to the parson Yorick (and author Laurence Sterne), a page so full of ink that it cannot be read. And they include the puffs and prologues that David Garrick used to heighten his publicity while protecting his privacy; the epistolary autobiography, modeled on the sentimental novel, of Garrick's protégé George Anne Bellamy; and the elliptical poems and portraits of the poet, actress, and royal courtesan Mary Robinson, a.k.a. Perdita. Linking all of these representations is a quality that Fawcett terms "over-expression," the unique quality that allows celebrities to meet their spectators' demands for disclosure without giving themselves away. Like a spotlight so brilliant it is blinding, these exaggerated but illegible self-representations suggest a new way of understanding some of the key aspects of celebrity culture, both in the eighteenth century and today. They also challenge divides between theatrical character and novelistic character in eighteenth-century studies, or between performance studies and literary studies today. The book provides an indispensable history for scholars and students in celebrity studies, performance studies, and autobiography--and for anyone curious about the origins of the eighteenth-century self." |
| Access |
Access restricted to subscribing institutions. |
| Subject |
Celebrities -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
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Fame -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
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English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
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Theater -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
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Privacy -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
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Great Britain -- Civilization -- 18th century.
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LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
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Celebrities. (OCoLC)fst00850072
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Civilization. (OCoLC)fst00862898
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English literature. (OCoLC)fst00911989
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Fame -- Social aspects.
(OCoLC)fst00920130
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Privacy. (OCoLC)fst01077437
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Theater. (OCoLC)fst01149217
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Great Britain. (OCoLC)fst01204623
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| Chronological Term |
1700-1799
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| Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
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History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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Electronic books.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: (DLC) 2015044817 (OCoLC)911798529 |
| ISBN |
9780472121809 (electronic bk.) |
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0472121804 (electronic bk.) |
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9780472900619 (electronic bk.) |
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0472900617 (electronic bk.) |
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9780472119806 (hardcover ;) (alkaline paper) |
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047211980X (hardcover ;) (alkaline paper) |
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