In recent years, Canadian authors have enjoyed tremendous
international success, from writing novels that become
Oscar-nominated films to achieving coveted success as selections
for the Oprah Winfrey bookclub. Literary Celebrity in Canada is the
first extended study of the dynamics of celebrity in the field of
Canadian literature. Building on the argument that celebrity is a
phenomenon firmly embraced by mainstream culture, Lorraine York
examines celebrity in relation to various tensions and conflicts
within the literary community and beyond.
Using as examples three contemporary literary celebrities -
Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Carol Shields - and four
earlier popular writers - Pauline Johnson, Stephen Leacock, Mazo de
la Roche and L. M. Montgomery - York demonstrates that fame is
performed in different keys by particular star authors and those
performances can be contradictory and complex. York casts doubt on
the notion of a specifically Canadian response to fame. Depending
on the public interpretation of a particular writer's life and
work, different tensions arise in negotiating literary celebrity.
Privacy versus publicity; swift success versus laborious
apprenticeship; national versus international association, or
ownership of the celebrity: no single version of celebrity applies
to all.
Citizenship, however, is a remarkably consistent site of tension
for stars, literary or otherwise. Like citizenship, celebrity marks
an uneasy space wherein the single, special individual and the
group demographic both meet and separate. Literary Celebrity in
Canada explores that space, drawing on current theories of
celebrity and questioning their tendency to view fame as anempty
phenomenon. This study is an innovative attempt to understand the
psychology of literary stardom and will influence future research
on contemporary literature and popular culture.
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