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‘Blazing stars’: early modern celebrity culture, 1580-1626
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Shorland, Sophie (2019) ‘Blazing stars’: early modern celebrity culture, 1580-1626. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3710504
Abstract
What do a duelling crossdresser, a chicken, and an out-of-work clown who liked to gamble on himself have in common? They were, I will argue, all part of a constellation of early modern celebrities, sharing certain elements of celebrity culture. While each celebrity had a different persona, they shared appellations – like the term ‘blazing star’ – and at one stage or another, they were some variation of the talk of the town or in the ‘common report’ of the world. This thesis looks at celebrity across early modern literature and culture, and the different forms of media that helped transmit it, including gossip, playtexts, and chapbooks. Exploring celebrity as a social phenomenon transmitted by different media, this thesis will investigate how early modern audiences created and interacted with celebrities. Audience value for celebrities is expressed through narrative but also through money, betting on celebrities or paying for products associated with them. When the celebrity is monetised through gambling, social capital directly converts to economic capital, suggesting intense social connections between early modern fans and celebrities. Audiences alternatively used celebrities’ personas to assert status, seek allies and experience emotion. Celebrity was an important facet of identity creation in early modern culture, something literary texts such as The Roaring Girl (ca.1607-10) and Astrophil and Stella (1591) are occupied with trying to understand.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CT Biography H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > PR English literature |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Celebrities -- History -- Early modern, 1500-1700, Fame -- History -- Early modern, 1500-1700, Celebrities -- Social life and customs -- Early modern, 1500-1700 | ||||
| Official Date: | September 2019 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
| Theses Department: | Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
| Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
| Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
| Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Purcell, Stephen, 1981- | ||||
| Sponsors: | University of Warwick. Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence | ||||
| Format of File: | |||||
| Extent: | 5-234 leaves : illustrations | ||||
| Language: | eng |
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