University of Iowa professor Anna Barker will read from her book, 13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire, and will be joined in conversation by Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate, DK Nnuro.
Between 1800 and 1803 the future state of Iowa was ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of the French Republic. 13 Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire illuminates some aspects of Iowa’s French past, such as cities named after the Napoleonic battles of Marengo and Waterloo, and explains the mystery of Iowa’s distinctly French-looking flag. Along the way, Dr. Barker muses on other Napoleon-related matters, such as Empire waist gowns, Goethe's and Byron's Bonapartism, the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna, and to what extent Europe's current internal contradictions have been impacted by its Napoleonic past.
""Only connect," E. M. Forster's famous advice to young novelists, is what animates Anna Barker's astonishing travelogue in the footsteps of Napoleon Bonaparte, which takes her from Napoleon, Iowa (the original name of Iowa City, the first UNESCO City of Literature) to a wide range of places touched in some way by the legendary military figure whose imperial designs shaped, for good and ill, the modern world. Ms. Barker deploys her encyclopaedic knowledge of history and literature, cinema and cuisine, and all things Napoleonic in service to a capacious vision of any meaning-making enterprise. She proves to be a delightful travel companion and a witty storyteller whose enthusiasm for her subject is infectious. Napoleon is everywhere." -Christopher Merrill
Dr. Barker teaches Russian literature, culture, and history at the University of Iowa. She is a Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the Napoleonic Historical Society.
DK Nnuro is a Ghanaian-born writer and is a graduate of Johns Hopkins and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught novel writing at the University of Iowa and is currently curator of special projects at the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art.