ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to uncover how and why the myth of Jenny Lind was created during her earliest years in London, focusing on the theatrical politics of the period and various ideological pressures that contributed to the construction of Lind as a cultural icon. It focuses on the immediately posthumous phase of the 1890s, specifically investigating how the authors of the first book-length biography dealt with an event that threatened to throw the myth into crisis. To understand the creation of iconic figure, the chapter considers the impression of Lind that was received in Britain before her actual arrival in terms of establishing certain core components of her mythical persona that would be developed. Lind's personal popularity was also drawn to the attention of the British public. A crucial role in the early phase of the construction of Lind as a cultural icon was played by Rumsey Forster, the music critic of the aristocratic daily newspaper the Morning Post.
