Celebrities are strange. We don’t know much about them, and yet we feel as if we know everything. They are constantly being watched and still somehow manage to stay hidden. Many have more power than most politicians, but most of them will never wield it.
Fame has changed drastically throughout history. Could we call medieval saints or Greek philosophers celebrities? How does their status compare to the likes of modern-day A-listers, who are just as likely to emerge from Instagram as they are from Hollywood? And how does that degree of attention affect the celebrities themselves?
It’s a fascinating subject, one that is consistently challenging our conception of what it means to be human. To understand it better, consider these five novels that examine celebrity culture.
***
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Jay Gatsby is an enigmatic loner renowned for throwing lavish parties for strangers. On the surface, he has everything: wealth, adulation, and a thriving social life. Yet he partakes in none of it, preoccupied instead by the more meaningful pursuit of love, something he slowly realises is never guaranteed, no matter how dazzling a life we purport to live.
***
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
Recently made into a Hollywood film starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, The Idea of You shifts the stereotypical celebrity-fan power dynamic with 20-year-old boyband star, Hayes Campbell, and 40-year-old single mother, Soléne Marchand. As the older, wiser, and savvier partner, she is the one in control of the clandestine affair that ensues after the pair meet at one of the band’s concerts, at least at first. Come for the behind-the-scenes insights into global fame, stay for the astute examination of misogyny and female sexuality.
***
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Didion’s 1970 novel follows former actor and model Maria Wyeth in Los Angeles as she recovers from a stint in a psychiatric hospital. Through a series of flashbacks – and with the help of sparse but sparkling stream-of-consciousness – we slowly start to see how Maria’s personal and professional life collapsed. The result is a meditation on how fame can fracture a sense of self, leaving a person with nothing but memories and a weary, weathered nihilism.
***
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The novel follows renowned casanova turned rock star Richard Katz’s life with his old friends from university, the Berglunds. To the outside world, the Berglunds might look like a picture-perfect American family, but in reality they’re haunted by mistakes of the past. While not a central theme, fame is masterfully scrutinised through Katz, who retreats from the limelight, trading sold-out gigs for construction work in the hope of finding something (or someone) that he lost on his ascent.
***
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Celebrity culture is a recurrent theme in Reid’s novels. All offer nuanced depictions of fame, but Malibu Rising stands out. Set in Malibu in 1983, the novel focuses on the famous Riva family, comprised of four very different siblings and their absent father, legendary musician Mick Riva. Their mother, June, raises their children alone and it’s her story – specifically the way she’s forced to put up with her husband’s starry-eyed nothingness – that gives this book its emotional heft.
Gold Rush by Olivia Petter is published by 4th Estate on 18 July.
