Empty Theatre
Written by Jac Jemc
Narrated by Jefferson Mays
4/5
()
About this audiobook
History knows them as King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, icons of the late nineteenth century who died young and left behind magnificent portraits and palaces. But to each other they were Ludwig and Sisi, cousins who
shared a passion for beauty and a stubborn refusal to submit to the roles imposed upon them.
Ludwig, simultaneously spoiled and punished for his softness and "unmanly" interests, falls hard for the operas of Richard Wagner and neglects his state duties in the pursuit of art. Sisi, married at the age of sixteen to her beloved Franzl,
bristles at the restrictions of her elevated position, the value placed on her beauty, and the simultaneous expectation that she ravage her body again and again in childbirth. Both absurdly vain, both traumatized by the demands of their
roles, Sisi and Ludwig struggle against the ideals they are expected to embody, and resist through extravagance, petulance, performance, and frivolity.
A tragicomic tour de force, Empty Theatre immerses readers in Ludwig and Sisi’s rarefied, ridiculous, restrictive world—where the aesthetics of excess belie the isolation of its inhabitants. With wit, pathos, and imagination, Jac Jemc takes us
on an unforgettable journey through two extraordinary parallel lives and the complex, tenuous friendship that linked them.
Jac Jemc
Jac Jemc is the author of False Bingo, The Grip of It, My Only Wife, and A Different Bed Every Time. My Only Wife was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and winner of the Paula Anderson Book Award, and her story collection False Bingo won the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, was a Lambda Award finalist, and was long-listed for the Story Prize. Jemc currently teaches creative writing at the University of California San Diego.
Related to Empty Theatre
Related audiobooks
Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kings of Sark: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Half-Life of a Stolen Sister Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Laughter: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Painter's Daughters: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMary and the Birth of Frankenstein: A Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Absolutes: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Self-Portrait with Nothing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5End of the World House: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Vintage Contemporaries: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killingly Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Unseen City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaint Sebastian's Abyss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winterland: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hammer Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The House in Paris Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBad Animals: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What Remains of Elsie Jane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKünstlers in Paradise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Last Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLuckenbooth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drowning Practice: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Margot: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bottled Goods: A Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Cannot Give Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Last Innocent Year: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pink Hotel: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Literary Fiction For You
Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Empty Theatre
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautifully written, heartfelt and powerful! Brings historical figures to life in a surprising way!