The Frenzy of Renown: Fame & Its History

The Frenzy of Renown: Fame & Its History

The lust for recognition has become so great in the twentieth century as to manifest itself in outright insanities--ranging from mass murderers in search of headlines to the frustrated author who buzzed the UN in order to force his publisher to give his book more attention. What is behind the drive to become famous? How did fame become such a pervasive feature of modern culture? In The Frenzy of Renown, Leo Braudy shows that, far from being just a twentieth-century obsession, fame has a history and that the twists and turns of that history have set up the terms by which we now understand the whole phenomenon. Beginning with Alexander the Great and coming right up to the present-day idolatry of media figures, Braudy explains how the definition of fame depends on the political and social system in which it is found, the culture's conception of what a person is, and of course, the media available for dissemination of images. Over the past 2,500 years, fame has meant a variety of things: the Roman commitment to public action, as well as the Christian belief that God is the only suitable audience; the Renaissance idea of the heroic artist, as well as the nineteenth-century notions of posterity and the avant garde; the assumption that the king is ideal human being, as well as the view that the movie star is the consummate role model. Drawing freely upon art, literature, political history, religion, and philosophy, The Frenzy of Renown offers a fascinating parade of personalities--Julius Caesar and Jesus, Charlemagne and Shakespeare, Napoleon and Byron, Emily Dickinson and Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler and Marily Monroe--who have changed the nature of fame and thereby changed the way everyone appears in public, in the eyes of others. In a masterful historical analysis that moves from the Homeric age to People , Braudy demonstrates that the elusive concept of fame changes as its historical context changes. More than two millennia ago the urge to fame existed because political power could be centralized by controlling imagery. Because communication was slow and lives brief, some became famous only in retrospect. To be famous today means only to be talked about, and it is possible to win instant recognition worldwide. The chase for fame has both "inspired and warped individuals and cultures," as Braudy demonstrates with his subtle portraits of Alexander, Caesar and Augustus, Jesus and Augustine, Charlemagne and Dante, Napoleon and Byron, Washington and Lincoln, Lindbergh and Hemingway. A solid and absorbing work that will be useful in many academic disciplines. Milton Meltzer, New York Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. "An admirably polished, dispassionate and illuminating account...Braudy's erudition is formidable, and the grace and intelligence with which he puts his immense range of sources to work make for a book of exceptional breadth and power."--The Nation"An impressive tour de force in which the author is at various times historian, art and literary critic, philosopher, philologist--and media maven." --Erich Segal, Washington Post Book World"A well-knit and compelling narrative... Mr. Braudy moves easily across centuries and cultures...[and] has a keen eye for the history encapsulated in words." --John Gross, The New York Times"The Frenzy of Renown...makes one think about famous people, deeds and ideas in a new way....[It] is rich in original insights and...surprisingly free of received opinion."--Susan Jacoby, The New York Times Book Review"One of the year's most impressive cultural critiques, a wide-ranging examination of fame from Alexander the Great to Farrah Fawcett."--The Philadelphia Inquirer"Brilliant, pathbreaking cultural history."--Newsday Leo Braudy, Leo S. Bing Professor of English, University of Southern California.