Sentiment & Celebrity: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame [Hardcover]

Thomas N. Baker (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press (December 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195120736
ISBN-13: 978-0195120738
Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 16 x 2.3 cm
Shipping Weight: 581 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #982,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

"Although chiefly known today for his ties to Fanny Fern and Harriet Jacobs, N. P. Willis is a fascinating figure in his own right, and this book goes a long way toward explaining his significance. Baker does a fine job of exploring Willis's career while making a solid contribution to our understanding of the culture of celebrity, fashion, and society in antebellum America."--Michael Winship, University of Texas at Austin

"A serious study of N. P. Willis is long overdue. Willis was an author, editor, and self-styled arbiter of taste who sparked adoration, condemnation, respect, and ridicule on a wide public stage. His life offers a fascinating perspective on the dynamics of the sentimental literary scene in which he played so important a role. By focusing attention on Willis's public persona, Baker's wonderful book illuminates the historical development of celebrity itself."--Rachel Klein, University of California at San Diego

"This is an absorbing study of a self-absorbed (but now nearly forgotten) poet and essayist who helped invent our modern-day cult of celebrity. N. P. Willis retailed his own cosmopolitan personality and those of other writers of his day, turning gossip into a saleable commodity and gaining fame and fans in the process. Thomas N. Baker's deeply researched book brings to life an important segment of the cultural vanguard of the mid-nineteenth century New York intellectual world, promoted to self-importance via the new techniques of celebrity journalism. The downside of celebrity is fully displayed as well, when public characters become engulfed in scandalous events that become front-page news. Baker has produced a rich and engaging story about the burdens of fame that resonates with modern-day concerns about the public's right to know intimate details of a public figure's life."--Patricia Cline Cohen, University of California at Santa Barbara

Product Description

Sentiment and Celebrity tells the story of a man the New York Times once called "the most talked-about author in America". A widely admired, if controversial master of the sentimental appeal poet and "magazinist" Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867) was a pioneer in the modern business of celebrity. By charting the shape and thrust of the various controversies that surrounded Willis, this book shows how the cultural and commercial impulses that fostered the development of antebellum America's love affair with fame and fashion drew power and sustenance from the concurrent allure of genteel cultivation and sentiment.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, Feb 7 2000

By Roscoe - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Sentiment & Celebrity: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame (Hardcover)

Nat Willis-- a man of his times, a man for our time? I loved this roguish tale! Baker has slavishly peeled away layer upon layer of this most American onion, this slice of the American pie, this antibellum antihero whose antics and excesses are still a hoot in our 'modern' society. Couldn't put it down. Expensive, though-- and too bad the pictures weren't bigger.

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