Eugénie de Montijo
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| - | '''The Count of Crow's Nest''' is a short story by [[Willa Cather]]. It was first published in ''[[Home Monthly]]'' in October 1896. | + | '''[[Doña]] María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales'''; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as '''Eugénie de Montijo''' ({{IPA-fr|øʒeni də montixo}}), was the last [[List of French consorts|Empress consort of the French]] from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III, Emperor of the French]]. |
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| - | ==Plot summary== | + | |
| - | At the Crow's Nest, a boarding house, Count de Koch and Harold Buchanan talk about literature. Once, Harold shows a book he has, with what he hopes to be [[Lola Montez]] and [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]]'s signatures. The Count takes out letters of his by these two historical figures, only to prove that it is not the latter's signature, although it is Lola's. The Count's daughter comes in and says these letters should be published. She makes fun of her father's superseded [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocratic]] stance, and says she would lean towards the [[bourgeoisie]]. The two men agree to see her sing sometime later. | + | |
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| - | After her performance, which Harold deemed to be very poor, the Count leaves and Harold is invited to dinner with Tony and she. Then, she asks him to collect her father's letters and edit them into a book, to make money. He refuses, and is shocked by her mercinariness. | + | |
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| - | Later, the Count walks into his friend's room in the middle of the night as his letters have vanished. They both go to Helena's and eventually gets them back. The Count expresses grave despair at his daughter's lack of honour, the end of the aristocracy. | + | |
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| - | ==Characters== | + | |
| - | *'''Harold Buchanan''', out of college and looking for a job. | + | |
| - | *'''Count de Koch''' | + | |
| - | *a prima donna | + | |
| - | *a reviewer, failed novelist | + | |
| - | *'''Helena de Koch''', the Count's daughter. She is a singer by profession. | + | |
| - | *'''Tony''', a [[tenor]] | + | |
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| - | ==Allusions to other works== | + | |
| - | *Literature is mentioned through [[William Makepeace Thackeray]], [[Norse mythology]] (especially [[Asgard]], [[Honoré de Balzac]]'s ''[[Pere Goriot]]'', [[Andrew Lang]]'s appreciation of [[Edgar Allan Poe]] as 'a gentleman among canaille' in ''Letters to Dead Authors'', [[Théophile Gautier]]'s ''[[La Morte Amoureuse]]'' and ''[[Fortunio (novel)|Fortunio]]'', [[François Rabelais]], [[Greek mythology]] (with [[Ares]] and [[Eros]]) [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]'', [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'s ''[[Confessions (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)|Confessions]]'', and [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]''. | + | |
| - | *Music is mentioned through [[Nellie Melba]], [[Felix Mendelssohn]], and [[Joseph Haydn]]. | + | |
| - | *Painting is mentioned through [[Anthony van Dyck]]. | + | |
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| - | ==Allusions to actual history== | + | |
| - | *The story is set before the [[World's Columbian Exposition]]. | + | |
| - | *Historical figures such as [[Beatrice Cenci]], [[Eugénie de Montijo|Empress Eugenie]], [[Lola Montez]], [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]], [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], [[Napoleon]], [[Julius Caesar]], and [[Nicholas I of Russia]] are mentioned. | + | |
| - | *[[William Tell]], a legendary figure, is also mentioned. | + | |
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| - | ==Literary significance and criticism== | + | |
| - | ''The Count of Crow's Nest'' was influenced by [[Anthony Hope]]'s 1894 novel ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', which Cather liked a lot. Others have also pointed out the influence of [[John Esten Cooke]]'s 1880 ''[[The Virginia Bohemians]]''. | + | |
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| - | The story has been deemed [[Henry James|Jamesian]]. | + | |
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Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo (Template:IPA-fr), was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Eugénie de Montijo" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
