Publisher's Weekly

[rcuza at mhv.net]

}Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 13:05:21 -0400
}From: Sojourner <sojourner at vt.edu>
}Subject: Re: Publisher's Weekly (fwd)
} 
}Sojourner replied:
} 
}Neither.  I mean the study of "fame" unto itself.  It's clearly of vital
}interest unto all societies and yet it has almost no academic recognition
}at all, other than in anthropology on a limited basis.  

	I recently read George W.S. Trow's _Within the Context of No
Context_, and while it isn't an an academic department, it is an excellent
study of fame, in the context of media. Trow sets himself up as a person
with a special perspective, part of a media family and of an age to
witness a major transformation in what makes someone famous. He is very
good at turning a personal experience into a mirror of societies growth. I
especially remember his descriptoin of being expected to wear a hat when
he became a professional and how to wear one now reguires an aire of
irony.
	It is a short book, pp192. Half the book is an article published
by Trow in the /NewYorker/ in 1981 and the other half is a recently
written forward by Trow. When I finished the book, I wondered what it
would be like to read this essay in 1981 (discounting the fact that I
would have only been 12). If any of you happened to have done just that
and remember your reaction, I would love to hear it. 

Ironically(?), I found out about the book from a plug in _Wired_ magazine
(http://wwww.wired.com/wired/5.05/streetcred.html). And it was part of my
first purchase from Amazon.com. 

	"Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes!"
		-Roy Batty, in _Blade Runner_

 ___________________________________________()()_______
Raúl Cuza				Poughkeepsie
rcuza at mhv.net				Day School
					(914) 462-7600
spilling mistooks are a resultan of technical difiCULTies
and are to be considered an undocmented feature until future 
releases.