Beyond celebrity history: towards the consolidation of fame studies

Abstract

This essay examines the current perspectives on celebrity history, following the varied theoretical understandings of historicisation in particular. The critical analysis of different approaches allows for the distinguishment of the major problem entailed by historicising celebrity. In order to avoid it, I propose a broader perspective of fame history. As presented later, the shift of focus towards fame rather than celebrity was foreshadowed in many milestone works on celebrity history before. The final part of the text offers a methodological tool that could serve as a bridge between different traditions dealing with celebrity and other kinds of fame.