Though these days, our celebrity culture tends to revolve around movie stars and pop musicians, there have been plenty of celebrity authors over the years and around the world. This volume brings together a number of contributors to look at how and why certain writers have attained celebrity throughout history. How were their images as celebrities constructed by themselves and in complicity with their fans? And how did that process and its effects differ from country to country and era to era?

Dr. Gaston Franssen (1977) is assistant professor of Literary Culture at the University of Amsterdam.Rick Honings is assistant professor of Dutch studies at Leiden University and a specialist in 19th-century Dutch literature.

Idolizing Authorship: An IntroductionGaston Franssen and Rick HoningsPart 1: The Rise of Literary Celebrity1. The Olympian Writer: Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) Silke Hoffmann2. The Dutch Byron: Nicolaas Beets (1814-1903) Rick Honings 3. Enemy of Society, Hero of the Nation: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) Suze van der PollPart 2: The Golden Age of Literary Celebrity4. From Bard to Brand: Holger Drachmann (1846-1908) Henk van der Liet 5. In the Future, When I Will Be More of a Celebrity: Louis Couperus (1863-1923) Mary Kemperink6. À la Recherche de la Gloire: Marcel Proust (1871-1922) Sjef Houppermans7. The National Skeleton: Ezra Pound (1885-1972) Peter LiebregtsPart 3: The Popularization of Literary Celebrity8. Playing God: Harry Mulisch (1927-2010) Sander Bax9. Literary Stardom and Heavenly Gifts: Haruki Murakami (1949) Gaston Franssen10. Sincere e-Self-Fashioning: Dmitrii Vodennikov (1968) Ellen Rutten11. The Fame and Blame of an Intellectual Goth: Sofi Oksanen (1977) Sanna Lehtonen