Stardom in Postwar France

John Gaffney is Professor of Politics at Aston University. He is the author and editor of a dozen books on French and British politics and culture.

• IntroductionJohn Gaffney and Diana HolmesChapter 1. Stardom in Theory and ContextJohn Gaffney and Diana HolmesChapter 2. 1950s Popular Culture: Star-Gazing and Myth-Making with Roland Barthes and Edgar MorinSusan WeinerChapter 3. ‘A Girl of Today’: Brigitte BardotDiana HolmesChapter 4. Rock ’n’ Roll Stardom: Johnny HallydayChris TinkerChapter 5. Stardom on Wheels: Raymond PoulidorPhilip DineChapter 6. The Auteur as Star: Jean-Luc GodardAlison SmithChapter 7. The Intellectual as Celebrity: Claude Lévi-StraussChristopher JohnsonChapter 8. ‘Starlette de la Littérature’: Françoise SaganHeather LloydChapter 9. The Only Act in Town: Charles de GaulleJohn GaffneyConclusionJohn Gaffney and Diana HolmesBibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex

“…an excellent volume, original and instructive, for researchers as well as for students, be it in cultural anthropology, sociology of culture or French Studies. For anthropologists adopting a comparative approach, here is an opportunity to find out how Anglo-Saxon colleagues perceive a hexagonal culture from outside.” · Anthropologie et Sociétés“This strong collection, through its insistence on the import of stardom beyond an array of one-dimensional incarnations of a zeitgeist to consider complex embodiments of specific contemporary tensions and dynamics, succeeds in expanding successfully the consideration of star identities in French studies and provides both fascinating case studies and valuable models for future analysis.” · French Studies“This highly enjoyable and provocative book convincingly demonstrates that celebrities are pivotal sites for the historical analysis of national identity.  Those figures that attracted public attention were all able to incarnate the aspirations and anxieties that shaped France in the postwar moment.  And it is through examining icons like Bardot, Hallyday, Poulidor, and de Gaulle, the authors insist, that we gain insight into the social concerns of the day. Why the post ’68 era failed, in their view, to produce a similar gamut of stars, remains an intriguing point of departure for future research.” · H-France