Karen Carpenter: Afterlife as Afterimage
Afterlife as Afterimage: Understanding Posthumous Fame By Steve Jones, Joli Jensen Peter Lang (2005) Popular singers often loom larger in death than in life. It is not surprising then that their gravesites often become destinations for pilgrimage. For example, the resting place of Jim Morrison in Paris has become a favored tourist destination, attracting numerous fans who express their respect and affection by leaving gifts and graffiti to honor the gifted singer and songwriter. Perhaps the most important lesson of these rituals is that, for some popular performers, the meanings inscribed in their public image often are derived from their fans' tendency to read their lives and music through the manner in which they gave their lives for the sake of their art. Carole Blair et al. (1994) note that gravesites and memorials are often places where readings of history are shaped and solidified in the public mind by ensconcing celebrated individuals within a framework that makes them legib