Sissi’s World: The Empress Elisabeth in Memory and Myth

Description

Sissi’s World offers a transdisciplinary approach to the study of the Habsburg Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It investigates the myths, legends, and representations across literature, art, film, and other media of one of the most popular, revered, and misunderstood female figures in European cultural history. Sissi’s World explores the cultural foundations for the endurance of the Sissi legends and the continuing fascination with the beautiful empress: a Bavarian duchess born in 1837, the longest-serving Austrian empress, and the queen of Hungary who died in 1898 at the hands of a crazed anarchist. Despite the continuing fascination with “the beloved Sissi,” the Habsburg empress, her impact, and legacy have received scant attention from scholars. This collection will go beyond the popular biographical accounts, recountings of her mythic beauty, and scattered studies of her well-known eccentricities to offer transdisciplinary cultural perspectives across art, film, fashion, history, literature, and media. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: “Sissi”: The Convergence of Memory and Myth Memory and Myth Elisabeth/Sissi and Nostalgia Sissi in North America? Part I: Memory 2. Encounters: Ulrike Truger, Elisabeth—Zwang—Flucht—Freiheit, 1998/99 Dreiansichtigkeit “Placement Problems” (“Platz-Probleme”) In-Between 3. The Remains of the Stay: The Corporeal Archive of Empress Elisabeth in the Hofburg Presence: Theme, Layout, and Nostalgia’s Tendencies Abstraction: Stepping Back to Consider Scale Absence: The Case of the Missing Corset, Ghosting, and Post-Museum Nostalgia Conclusion 4. Sisi Redux: The Empress Elisabeth and Her Cult in Post-Communist Hungary Introduction The Hungarian Cult of Elisabeth in Her Life and Death Act One of the Sisi Revival: The Forgotten 1980s How the Habsburgs Demolished the Iron Curtain The Sisi Industry: Historians and the Resurrection of the Elisabeth Myth A New Site for the Sisi Cult: The Gödöllo Royal Palace Museum Conclusion: Sisi the Avatar 5. A Place for Sissi in Trieste Death of the Empress The Statue in the Habsburg Port Cold War Hibernation New Central Europe Sissi at the Millennium Conclusion 6. Empress Elisabeth and the Painting of Modern Life 7. Karl Lagerfeld and the Elisabeth Myth ΑΧΙΛΛΕΙΟΝΝ· Achelleio · l'achilleion Reincarnation 8. Sissi, the Chinese Princess: A Timely and Versatile Post-Mao Icon “We Want to See Sissi!” Sissi Came to China and Became Xixi The Indispensable Sissi/Xixi: Narrating the History of the Habsburg Lands in China Sissi/Xixi Sells: Brand Power and Fantasies The Chinese Princess Xixi Part II: Myth 9. Melancholy Empress: Queering Empire in Ernst Marischka’s Sissi Films 10. Sisi: A Double Refl ection on a “Queer Icon” Sisi, Sissi, Lissi, Elisabeth: Queer Parody Sisi-Sissi: Parody, Camp, and Queer Performance “Sissi!” “Franz!” Sisi-Elisabeth. Or the Imperial Allegory of Queer In-Visibility, Secrets, Queer 11. Imagining Austria: Myths of “Sisi” and National Identity in Lilian Faschinger’s 12. Cocteau’s Queen: Sissi Between Legend, Spectacle, and History in L’Aigle à deux têtes Introduction Rejecting Royal Spectacle Becoming a Tragedy, or Choosing Text Over Image Cinematic Spectacle History and Film Conclusion 13. Fat, Thin, Sad: Victoria, Sissi, Diana and theFate of Wax Queens Barbara Cartland’s Sissi Thomas Hardy’s Sissi Wax Queens Princess Au Revoir Returning to Tears 14. Sisi in the Museum: Exhibits in Vienna and the US Sisi in Vienna Sisi in the United States Notes on Contributors Index