Admirers, Fanciers and Devotees

This book offers the first multidisciplinary perspective on the formation and practices of historical fandom, arguing that fandom is not solely a phenomenon of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The volume discusses methodological questions, as well as the naming of historical fandom before the term existed, and it explores fans and practices of fandom especially with regard to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century theater and opera. Although fannish audiences were indispensable participants in the emerging cult of celebrity surrounding actors, opera singers and writers, their presence is rarely acknowledged in scholarship, and their practices are rarely related to later fan practices. The chapters in this volume, written by an international group of scholars, broaden the field for both Fandom Studies and more traditional disciplines in the humanities.