Bill, as a writer in Mao II, demonstrates the relationship audiences shape authors into celebrities like John Cawelti discusses in “The Writer as a Celebrity: Some Aspects of American Literature as Popular Culture.” Cawelti points out that, at first, the audience’s “fascination may be the celebrity’s creation” but “there is a tendency for public interest to fasten increasingly on the person” (Cawelti 163). I think this is true for Bill. Bill tries to reject his role as a celebrity by refusing to have his picture taken and cutting himself off from society. He feels that “the language of [his] books has shaped [him] as a man” so, like Cawelti states, Bill wants to be “known wholly through [his] works” (DeLillo 48; Cawelti 72). However, this proves difficult because his audience wants to know more about him. People try in vain to find out where he even lives. Like Brita tells him, taking his picture taken will make Bill “someone’s material” and that “the moment [his] picture appears [he’ll] be expected to look just like it” (DeLillo 43).
By increasing the mystery around him, his audience becomes more obsessed with figuring out who Bill is. Without this knowledge, Bill fails to be the “performer-person” that audiences seek in their authors (Cawelti 173). This means that Bill cannot provide the audience with any clues to “understand and respond to” his work (Cawelti 173). Brita feel that there is a connection between the person and their work and so that she “out to know the person as well as the work” when she photographs authors like Bill (DeLillo 37). However, Brita also expresses uneasiness about meeting Bill as a celebrity. Like Ludmilla who would not meet authors in If on winter’s night, Brita knows that Bill will not be the same “man who had lived in her mind for years” (DeLillo 34). By idealizing Bill as a celebrity that counters who he really is, Brita shows how “true celebrity is a human creation” (Cawelti 174).