After Diana Irreverent Elegies

A gathering of writers whose objective is not to mourn but to understand. The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was met by the greatest public mourning this century: 2.5 billion people around the world watched the funeral on television; floral tributes flooded London's royal parks and sprang up, too, in small towns in Texas; conspiracy theories ricocheted around the Internet; commemorative stamps were issued in newly communist Hong Kong. Press coverage of the death was also unprecedented. Traditional distinctions between tabloids and quality papers, right-wing and liberal press, were submerged in an avalanche of schmaltz and instant punditry. In After Diana, leading cultural critics dissect the enormous welter of words and images to determine what can be made of this extraordinary response to the princess's death. Did Tony Blair's public emoting herald a new kind of politics? What did the deep anguish of so many who never knew Diana in person reveal about the English character? How did the intertwining of the ideas of celebrity and victim, physical beauty and moral worth, affect people's responses and what is the significance of this event for the future of the royal family? For those perplexed by the events surrounding Diana's death, this book seeks to provide some answers. Underpinned by the idea that all aspects of the affair are open to investigation, that nothing -- especially royalty -- is sacred, it brings together a group of distinguished writers whose primary interest is to analyze the death rather than lament it. Contributors include: Sarah Benton, Robin Blackburn, Beverley Brown, Richard Coles, Ford Higson, Christopher Hitchens, Sara Maitland, Mandy Merck, Adam Philips, Naomi Segal, Elizabeth Wilson.