Reading the Stars

Overview & Synopsis

From Édith Piaf and Madonna to Taylor Swift, BTS, and Kanye West, all the way to Elon Musk and Gisèle Pelicot: the book »Reading the Stars« explores how celebrity originates today. It shows how fame forms from the interplay of viral visibility, emotional connections, and media power. In this context, stars appear less as stable icons and more as intersection of collective emotions, projections, and social negotiations through which the present can be interpreted. Drawing on an original synthesis of literary, media, and cultural studies, »Reading the Stars« develops a new practice of reading that conceives of visibility, affect, and cultural interpretation as effects of media, historical, and political conditions.