‘Making it’: practitioners’ views on literary celebrity

Spiers, Emily

doi:10.1080/19392397.2016.1234172

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

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“…In consequence, there has been an industry shift from Barthes' preliminary desire for authors' deaths to authors now proactively looking for new ways to gain celebrity status via social media (Myers, 2016). Doing so has proved to aid authors in establishing a profile by acquiring attention capital (Spiers, 2016). This new industry need highlights the commercialisation of modern authors into a 'brand'.…”

Section: Potterheads Transphobia New Age Fan Activism and Public Rela...mentioning

confidence: 99%

#RIPJKRowling: A tale of a fandom, Twitter and a haunting author who refuses to die

Ravell

2023

Public Relations Inquiry

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With Roland Barthes’ 1968 essay ‘Death of the Author’ as its touchstone, this article reflects critically on the hashtag #ripjkrowling that trended on Twitter in September 2020. Through a thematic content analysis of the top 100 tweets from this hashtag, it will examine celebrity author J.K. Rowling’s reputation amongst fans and wider audiences. Rowling’s history of disseminating transphobic rhetoric online as well as the news her 2020 book contains transphobic messaging will be considered. When Barthes called for the ‘death’ of the author, he highlighted the importance of understanding texts as independent from authorial intention and biography. As this case illuminates, when fans cannot reconcile Rowling’s values with those of her creation they pronounce her ‘dead’. Exemplified through this hashtag, in this post-Barthesian world of celebrity authorship, the author is being revived only to be killed off again. This paper seeks to examine why Potterheads, in response to Rowling’s controversies pertaining to LGBTQIA+ issues, are pronouncing her ‘dead’. From there, this article explores a broader public relations inquiry into what this means for public relations practice when media products and brands belong to the fans, especially politically and socially active ones like Potterheads. Mainstream participatory culture logics on Twitter such as hashtag and fan activism will be reflected on to understand their role in how modern fans separate art from their artists, and implications for Rowling’s authorship, Harry Potter readership and public relations.

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Section: Potterheads Transphobia New Age Fan Activism and Public Rela...mentioning

confidence: 99%

#RIPJKRowling: A tale of a fandom, Twitter and a haunting author who refuses to die

Ravell

2023

Public Relations Inquiry

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Introduction: the celebrity of Haruki Murakami

Franssen

2018

Celebrity Studies

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If stardomas argued by Richard Dyer (1979, p. 43) in his seminal work Starsis marked as an 'ambiguity/contradiction' concerning 'stars-as-ordinary' and 'stars-as-special', then the Japanese author Haruki Murakami certainly qualifies as a literary star. Indeed, Murakami is frequently described as a modest, unassuming, self-effacing character. Jay Rubin (2012, p. 40), the author's long-time translator and fan of the first hour, observes for instance that 'the note of "ordinariness"' often comes through in 'Murakami's comments on himself and what others have said about him'. At the same time, it is clear that Murakami's authorship is far from ordinary: it is synonymous with phenomenal commercial success and global popularity. Additionally, Murakami can be said to be extraordinary in the sense that the author's signature is a brand name that readers associate with the mysterious and the surreal. Murakami's name immediately evokes a literary universe filled with fantastical events, talking animals, and parallel worlds. Fans, literary critics, and scholars all over the world appear fascinated by what has been dubbed 'the Murakami Phenomenon' or, alternatively, 'the Haruki Effect'. Murakami's literary stardom is a recent manifestation of a cultural pattern with deep historical roots. The history of celebrity authorship has been traced back to early modern times (Narain 2009) and scholars have extensively mapped its development through romanticism (

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‘Making it’: practitioners’ views on literary celebrity

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

#RIPJKRowling: A tale of a fandom, Twitter and a haunting author who refuses to die

#RIPJKRowling: A tale of a fandom, Twitter and a haunting author who refuses to die

Introduction: the celebrity of Haruki Murakami

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