Conference: Constructing Charisma: Fame, Celebrity and Power in 19th Century Europe; April 12-14, 2007, at La Maison Française, NYU and Rutgers University, Newark.

This three-day, international and interdisciplinary conference examines fame in nineteenth century Europe, with topics including how celebrities transformed their personal standing into social and political power; how established leaders—kings, presidents, clergymen—had to operate within the new culture of celebrity by developing “charisma;” and how charisma was enacted through institutional means (media, advertising, spectacles), material culture and commodification, and the participation of fans.

The conference begins on April 12, 2007, with a Keynote Lecture by Leo Braudy: “Secular Anointings: Fame, Celebrity, and Charisma in the First Century of Mass Culture.” Leo Braudy, author of "The Frenzy of Renown" and University Professor at USC, is a distinguished scholar of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English literature, film history, American culture and the history of fame and celebrity.

His lecture will be held at Rutgers University, Newark on April 12, from 5:30-7:00 pm in the Dana Room, 4th Floor Dana Library, 185 University Avenue, Newark NJ, with a reception to follow from 7:00-8:00 pm, at the Paul Robeson Gallery.

The conference will continue on April 13-14 at NYU, hosted by the Institute of French Studies of NYU. Morning sessions on both days will run from 9:30am-12:30pm; afternoon sessions from 2:00-5:00pm. All sessions will be held at La Maison Française, NYU, 16 Washington Mews, New York City, 10003.

Paper presenters:
Jeffrey Alexander, Sociology, Yale (Weber, Charisma)
Emily Apter, French, NYU (Celebrity and the gift)
Edward Berenson, History, NYU (Colonial Heroes)
Venita Datta, French, Wellesley (Heroes, Belle Époque)
Steven Englund, History, American University Paris (Napoleon)
Peter Fritzsche, History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne (Media and celebrity)
Eva Giloi, History, Rutgers-Newark (Fan-celebrity relationship)
Dana Gooley, Music, Brown (Liszt)
Martin Kohlrausch, History, German Historical Institute Warsaw (Wilhelm II, Scandal)
Steven Minta, English, York (Byron)
Mary Louise Roberts, History, Wisconsin (Women celebrities)
Kenneth Silver, Art History, NYU (Sarah Bernhardt)

Commentators:
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Italian, NYU
Dominique Kalifa, History, University of Paris I
Anson Rabinbach, History, Princeton
Vanessa Schwartz, History, USC

Please rsvp at history@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
For directions to the Rutgers-Newark campus, please see: http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/maps/newarkmap.pdf or call 973-353-5410 ext.19.
For all other information on the keynote events on April 12, please contact evagiloi@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
For more information on the conference sessions at La Maison Française, please contact tm1147@nyu.edu