Jac Jemc's novel 'Empty Theatre' was inspired by the lives, and strange ends, of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the Empress Sisi of Austria
It’s only about halfway through our interview when local writer and professor Jac Jemc admits she doesn’t understand people’s insatiable fascination with royalty.
It’s a historical epic that could potentially appeal to both readers fascinated by royal figureheads, as well as to those who find themselves antipathetic to the brazenly cushy lives of regal families. Yes, it’s the type of source material that begs to be adapted by filmmakers such as Yorgos Lanthimos or Wes Anderson.
To get a sense of just how much is going on in Jemc’s new book, not to mention its cheeky tone, one need only look to the full title of the novel: “Empty Theatre, or The Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria , Cousins, in Their Pursuit of Connection and Beauty Despite the Expectations Placed on Them Because of the Exceptional Good Fortune of Their Status as Beloved National Figures. With Speculation Into the Mysterious Nature of Their Deaths.
“You have to take a guided tour of the castle and you get this whole narrative about his life,” Jemc recalls. “I just became fascinated that this was a king who really only cared about the arts — things like paying for Wagner’s operas and building these big castles that were often odes to other kinds of architecture that he loved. He just wasn’t very good at doing the rest of his job.”
“They were just both these iconoclasts in this interesting line of royal history and who were both closely linked to one another,” Jemc says. “She didn’t really show up much to be the figurehead that they wanted her to be and the things that she did care about, she really had to fight to get the attention and support she wanted for those things,” Jemc continues, pointing to the empresses lobbying for things like mental health services and building hospitals. “For a long time, she was treated as if these were just little whims of hers, but I think they were very pointed and strategic; a way to use her power to do some good.
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