Celebrity Across the Channel, 1750-1850 is the first book to study and compare the concept of celebrity in France and Britain from 1750 to 1850 as the two countries transformed into the states we recognize today. It offers a transnational perspective by placing in dialogue the growing fields of celebrity studies in the two countries, especially by engaging with Antoine Lilti’s seminal work, The Invention of Celebrity, translated into English in 2017. With contributions from a diverse range of scholarly cultures, the volume has a firmly interdisciplinary scope over the time period 1750 to 1850, which was an era marked by social, political, and cultural upheaval. Bringing together the fields of history, politics, literature, theater studies, and musicology, the volume employs a firmly interdisciplinary scope to explore an era marked by social, political, and cultural upheaval. The organization of the collection allows for new readings of the similarities and differences in the understanding of celebrity in Britain and France. Consequently, the volume builds upon the questions that are currently at the heart of celebrity studies.
List of Illustrations
Antoine Lilti, Preface
Anaïs Pédron and Clare Siviter, Introduction
Section 1: Theorizing Celebrity
Chapter 1: Chris Haffenden, “‘Immortality in This World’: Reconfiguring Celebrity and Monument in the Romantic Period”
Chapter 2: Blake Smith, “The Scholar as Celebrity: Anquetil-Duperron’s Discours Préliminaire”
Chapter 3: Meagan Mason, “The Physiognomies of Virtuosi in Paris, 1830–1848”
Section 2: Representing Celebrity
Chapter 4: Anna Senkiw, “‘To Perdition’: Politicians, Players, and the Press”
Chapter 5: Anaïs Pédron, “Clairon’s Strategies to Achieve Celebrity and Glory”
Chapter 6: Miranda Kiek, “Celebrity—Thou Art Translated! Corinne in England”
Chapter 7: Clare Siviter, “Celebrity Across Borders: The Chevalier d’Eon”
Section 3: Inheriting Celebrity
Chapter 8: Emrys D. Jones: “‘Knowing My Family’: Dynastic Recognition in Eighteenth-Century Celebrity Culture”
Chapter 9: Gabriel Wick, “Princes of the Public Sphere: Visibility, Performance, and Princely Political Activism, 1771–1774”
Chapter 10: Ariane Viktoria Fichtl, “Ancient Parallels to Eighteenth-Century Concepts of Celebrity”
Chapter 11: Laure Philip, “The Celebrity, Reputation, and Glory of the Empire and Restoration France through the Lens of Adèle de Boigne’s Memoirs”
Bibliography
About the Contributors
