Professor Helen Watanabe-O’Kelly publishes new book

The nineteenth century is notable for its newly proclaimed emperors, from Franz I of Austria and Napoleon I in 1804, through Agustín and Pedro, the emperors of Mexico and Brazil, in 1822, to Napoleon III in 1852, Maximilian of Mexico in 1864, Wilhelm I, German emperor, in 1871, and Victoria, empress of India in 1876.

Professor Watanabe-O’Kelly’s latest book, Projecting Imperial Power: New Nineteenth Century Emperors and the Public Sphere, is the first book to consider newly proclaimed emperors in six territories across three continents during the long nineteenth century.

Thanks to a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, Professor Watanabe-O’Kelly had visited archives and other sites in Mexico, India, and Austria before the pandemic. She was then able to spend the 2020 lockdowns writing and could complete her research using online resources. Following the success of her last monograph, Beauty or Beast? The Woman Warrior in the German Imagination from the Renaissance to the Present (OUP, 2010), the book was published by Oxford University Press in July.

Professor Watanabe-O’Kelly’s is a central member of Exeter College and has been for many years. She was a Fellow in German Language and Literature between 1989 and 2013, and during this time she was also Sub-Rector for several years in the ’90s and again in the 2000s. We hope to celebrate her new publication with a book launch in College in Michaelmas 2021.

Find out more about Projecting Imperial Power and purchase a copy online.