Frederick the Great, discussion post 6

[cahn]

...I think we need another one (seriously, you guys, this is THE BEST) and I'd better make it now before I disappear into the wilds of music performance.

(also, as of this week there are two Frederician fics in the yuletide archive and eeeeeeeeeee)
(huh, only one of them is actually tagged with Frederick the Great even though two with Maria Theresia and Wilhelmine, eeeeeee this is awesome I CAN'T WAIT)

Frederick the Great masterpost

Comments

Re: Lehndorff: The Bitter Years - It's Marwitz Time!

[cahn]

LOL FOREVER OMG

Me: Hey, I have a dumb question. Who IS this random guy anyway? Tell me about him?
Mildred: I will use my superpowers of search and connections to unearth his diaries!
Selenak: I will use my superpowers of translation and analysis to translate these diaries!
Lehndorff: *is awesome*
Me: ...my superpower is the one of asking dumb questions! This is great!

One of the great things about it is that I would never have dared to ask a stupid question like "Who is this guy anyway??" in any other context, because I would have been intimidated by other people knowing so much more and would feel like they wouldn't want to answer my dumb questions. Whereas it's not like you guys don't know an intimidating amount of stuff, but you know exactly how little I know ("He was, like, King of Prussia, right?" "Well, actually...") and are still willing to fill me in (...sometimes multiple times, lol) <333333

Lehndorff is hands-down my favorite memoirist so far

SAME. He's both endearing and informative, like you say! And I can't stop laughing at his utter cluelessness, he's such a dork, I love him.

Re: Lehndorff: The Bitter Years - It's Marwitz Time!

[mildred_of_midgard]

Remember how I invited someone to our discussions yesterday? (selenak, she will not be joining at this time, although may in future. She wrote the Fritz mob boss fic and knows fun anecdotes about 18C and 19C historical figures we haven't discussed yet.)

Anyway, I was explaining how our discussion space is totally chill, and a key part of the dynamic is that you don't know much more than what we've told you, cahn but you're delighted to hear about it, so there's no need to be intimidated by "Oh no, am I the least knowledgeable person here?" (Which I otherwise totally would be in selenak's presence.) Because whatever historical gossip you want to share, *someone* will be excited about it, and it may or may not be new to the other participants as well.

And she thought that sounded very nice and welcoming.

So you definitely have a superpower, and I would argue that it's not at all a dumb question! Because like I said, Lehndorff was only vaguely on my radar, in that when you asked I knew where to find quotes, but I hadn't registered him as a *person*. And I certainly wouldn't have been able to read those diaries! 99% of this was new to me, and the bits that weren't, I didn't realize were from him, and that was useful. (He gets quoted a lot in isolation, but nobody ever gives you the Lehndorff rundown.)

So thank you for being a very key part of this dynamic, making the discussion happen, and helping to keep it chill. <3333

(I honestly feel like it's a superpower because I would never ask these questions, because I feel like I'm *supposed* to know this stuff, or at least look it up? And a whole whole bunch of it has been new to me, and I would never have learned any of it without you to ask and selenak to answer. <3 And every once in a while I produce something that's new to selenak, and it's like, "Score!" ;) )

Any two of us would have stopped after a few comments, or a few dozen, and the three of us are now at...397,915 words. It's certainly been a glorious experience for me.

Re: Lehndorff: The Bitter Years - It's Marwitz Time!

[selenak]

So thank you for being a very key part of this dynamic, making the discussion happen, and helping to keep it chill. <3333

Seconding this a thousand times. But for you, I would never have discovered the adorkable Lehndorff myself, nor would I have read more than those Fredersdorf letters already quoted in online articles, nor would I have wonderful fannish chatting for months now! Gott bewahre dir!