Mark Rowlands, Fame. Stocksfield: Acumen, 2008. £9.99.122 pp.

摘要

For Mark Rowlands, fame in the present age is in a parlous state. It has become the new opium of the people. The stupor that results from this is manifested in a loss or diminution of critical evaluation and standards of assessment, as we stand, if not in awe, then at least in benign acceptance of what passes for fame. Fame itself has been emptied of significance, perhaps not totally, but certainly to a considerable degree. This goes hand in hand with our inability to make, or agree upon, distinctions of cultural value or aesthetic worth. Many of today's media celebrities are, as Daniel Boorstin once put it, well known simply for their well-knownness. This flattening-out of fame blurs the line between deserved and attributed fame, and debases the credentials of social respect. Exceptional achievement is under siege by what is unremarkable. At best, all that is remarkable about much contemporary fame is the attainment of a certain public noteworthiness by appearing on talent show programmes or low-budget reality TV.