Maura E. Hametz is Professor of History at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Her research explores the history of Trieste and the northeastern Adriatic regions since the late 19th century with emphasis on the intersections of politics, culture, economy, law, religion, gender, and ethnicity and nationalism. Her major works include In the Name of Italy (2012) and Making Trieste Italian, 1918-1954 (2005), and she co-edited Jewish Intellectual Women in Central Europe, 1860-2000 (2012). Heidi Schlipphacke is Associate Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Her research focuses on the German Enlightenment and its critique, kinship and family structures, post-war German and Austrian literature and film, and queer and gender studies. She is the author of Nostalgia After Nazism: History, Home and Affect in German and Austrian Literature and Film (2010).

Given the general lack of academic research on the ‘Sissi’ phenomenon, this volume fills a scholarly void, going beyond the often hagiographical historical accounts and appropriation of her image to interrogate what has been going on beneath such surface manifestations … The editors have judiciously selected trans-disciplinary approaches that go beyond the marketing of an image to excavate how and why [Sissi’s] memory and attendant mythology retain their hold on people the world over … This volume … stands out for the quality and consistency of its individual chapters and contains a comprehensive bibliographical apparatus that will be useful to scholars, students, and interested readers alike. The editors are clearly well read in theory and cultural history, bringing nuanced perspectives to the wide range of essays collected here. Handsomely presented with no lacunae, it is part of the exciting series ‘New Directions in German Studies’ from Bloomsbury and is a valuable addition to Austrian studies, broadly defined.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments1. Introduction: "Sissi": The Convergence of Memory and MythMaura E. Hametz (Old Dominion University, USA) and Heidi Schlipphacke (University of Illinois Chicago, USA)I. Memory2. Encounters: Ulrike Truger, Elisabeth – Zwang – Flucht – Freiheit, 1998/99Christiane Hertel (Bryn Mawr College, USA)3. The Remains of the Stay: The Corporeal Archive of Empress Elisabeth in the HofburgBeth Ann Muellner (College of Wooster, USA)4. Sisi Redux: The Empress Elisabeth and Her Cult in Post-Communist HungaryJudith Szapor (McGill University, Canada) and András Lénárt (National Széchényi Library, Hungary)5. A Place for Sissi in TriesteMaura E. Hametz (Old Dominion University, USA) and Borut Klabjan (European University Institute in Florence, Italy)6. Empress Elisabeth and the Painting of Modern LifeOlivia Gruber Florek (Delaware County Community College, USA)7. Karl Lagerfeld and the Elisabeth MythCarolin Maikler (Independent Scholar, Switzerland); Translated by Marieanne Gilliat-Smith8. Sissi, the Chinese Princess: A Timely and Versatile Post-Mao IconFei-Hsien Wang and Ke-chin Hsia (Indiana University Bloomington, USA)II. Myth9. Melancholy Empress: Queering Empire in Ernst Marischka's Sissi FilmsHeidi Schlipphacke (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA)10. Sisi: A Double Reflection on a “Queer Icon"Susanne Hochreiter (University of Vienna, Austria)11. Imagining Austria: Myths of “Sisi” and National Identity in Lilian Faschinger’s Wiener PassionAnita McChesney (Texas Tech University, USA)12. Cocteau’s Queen: Sissi between Legend, Spectacle, and History in L’Aigle à deux têtesElizabeth Black (Old Dominion University, USA)13. Fat, Thin, Sad - Victoria, Sissi, Diana and the Fate of Wax QueensKate Thomas (Bryn Mawr College, USA)14. Sisi in the Museum: Exhibits in Vienna and the USSusanne Kelley (Kennesaw State University, USA)Notes on ContributorsIndex